Swedish ministers are considering imposing age restrictions on social media platforms. According to a report by the news agency Reuters, ministers in the Swedish government are planning to introduce such restrictions if major social media platforms fail to prevent gangs from recruiting young people for violent crimes. This comes as Sweden grapples with a surge in gang violence, leading to the highest per capita shooting rate in Europe. In recent years, gangs have increasingly used social media platforms as “digital marketplaces” to recruit teenagers, some as young as 11, to carry out murders and bombings in Nordic countries. This alarming trend has prompted the Swedish government to consider age limits as a potential solution if tech companies fail to address the issue effectively.
In November, Australia became the first country to implement a nationwide ban on social media platforms for children under 16. With this ban, the country aims to safeguard children and teenagers from the potential harms of excessive online activity and protect their mental health.
What Swedish ministers said about imposing age restrictions on social media
In a statement to Reuters, Swedish Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer said that “it’s a very serious situation.”
Strommer’s statement came after he met with other Nordic justice ministers and social media companies in Copenhagen.
“We are not ruling out anything,” Strommer added.
He also noted that the country would review measures implemented by other countries like Australia to determine what would work best for Sweden.
In the first seven months of 2024, 93 children in Sweden under the age of 15 were suspected of being involved in planning murders. The report cited the country’s police statistics to claim that this number was three times more than last year.
Strommer also highlighted that representatives from TikTok, Meta, Google, and Snapchat had pledged to do “everything in their power” to address the issue, emphasising that it was now up to these platforms to deliver “concrete results.”
According to a statement from the Danish government, Telegram and Signal were also invited to the discussions, but these platforms could not attend.
Earlier this month, Danish police reported 32 cases since April where Swedish kids and teens were hired to carry out violent crimes. Many of these perpetrators, often young, have been referred to as “child soldiers” by Danish politicians.
Sweden’s Education Minister Johan Pehrson also mentioned monitoring developments in Australia, where a recent social media ban was imposed.
“It’s not the first step, but it’s not ruled out,” Pehrson said regarding a possible ban in Sweden.
He also confirmed that the government is committed to taking every step to curb excessive social media use among children.
“We see that children are stuck in this dark sludge, throwing away their lives,” Pehrson noted.
