Cliff Notes – Tech firms face fines up to £60k for failing to remove knife crime
- Social media companies may face fines of up to £60,000 for not removing knife crime-related posts within 48 hours of a police warning, aimed at protecting children from harmful content.
- The initiative includes penalties for individual tech executives, potentially totalling £70,000 per non-compliant post, and will be introduced via an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill.
- While the measure has garnered support for addressing online content glorifying violence, concerns remain about the enforceability and broader cultural issues surrounding knife crime.
Tech firms face fines up to £60k for failing to remove knife crime content
Social media companies will be fined up to £60,000 each time a post relating to knife crime is not removed from their sites in a bid to stop children viewing “sickening” content.
The new sanction expands on previously announced plans to fine individual tech executives up to £10,000 if their platforms fail to remove material advertising or glorifying knives following 48 hours of a police warning.
It means tech platforms and their executives could collectively face up to £70,000 in penalties for every post relating to knife crime they fail to remove, with the new laws applying to online search engines as well as social media platforms and marketplaces.
Crime and policing minister Dame Diana Johnson said the content that young people scroll through every day online “is sickening” adding: “That is why we are now going further than ever to hold to account the tech companies who are not doing enough to safeguard young people from content which incites violence, particularly in young boys.”
Extra sanctions for tech platforms
The sanctions for tech platforms will be introduced via an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill.
It is separate to the Online Safety Bill, which aims to protect children from online harm, which some campaigners and parents have criticised for not going far enough.
The Home Office said today’s announcement follows “significant consultation” with the Coalition to Tackle Knife Crime, launched by Sir Keir Starmer in September as part of his bid to half knife offences in a decade.
Patrick Green, chief executive of The Ben Kinsella Trust, a knife prevention charity which is part of the coalition, welcomed the measure, saying that social media companies have “proved themselves to be incapable of self-regulation”.
“There’s been a real reluctance of social media companies to take action sufficiently quickly. It’s shameful, we shouldn’t need legislation,” he said.