The Justice Ministers of several Nordic countries including Norway, Denmark, and Sweden are to meet with representatives of tech giants to discuss the misuse of digital services for organised crime.
The ministers are to meet today in Uppsala, Sweden with members of Google, Meta, Snapchat and TikTok in order to discuss issues relating to the use of social media platforms in the recruitment of what the Danish Minister for Justice has called “child soldiers”.
Authorities say Swedish based gang members are suspected of having been recruited by Danish counterparts to carry out violent attacks on rival gang members.
The ministers will discuss the challenges of misuse of digital services for organised crime, including the recruitment of children and young people.
Danish Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard previously met with Swedish Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer in August to discuss the situation.
Denmark has put pressure on Sweden after a recent spike in gang violence involving armed teenager who travelled from Sweden.
The Danish government says the August meeting took place “in the wake of a series of episodes, where young people are suspected of having travelled from Sweden to Denmark in order to commit serious crimes dangerous to persons for payment.”
Hummellgaard and Strömmer agreed to take a tougher stance against cross-border organised crime with one approach being the intensifying efforts “against the misuse of digital services for organised crime, including the recruitment of children and young people.”
Meetings are to be held between justice ministers from the Nordic countries as well as the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland to seek to form “a common Nordic front” against organised crime.
Danish Justice Minister, Peter Hummelgaard said, “We have seen many examples of how gangs use social media and encrypted messaging services to plan serious crimes and recruit very young people to do the dirty work.”
“On some platforms, violence and murder are simply offered as job postings for our children and young people.” he said.
Hummelgaard said that he and his Nordic counterparts “agree that a common front is needed to get a handle on this problem” saying that part of that is “to insist that the tech giants live up to their responsibilities, so that their platforms do not act as hotbeds for serious crime.”
The Finnish Justice Ministry said that the meeting would include a discussion on the “undue influence on judicial authorities” of organised crime groups in the region.
The Swedish Ministry said that the meeting will conclude today with a round table discussion on “how anti-Semitism and hate crimes against Jews can be prevented and fought in the Nordic region” with Ronald S. Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, participating in the conversation.
As Gript previously reported, a leading sociologist at Sweden’s Uppsala University has said that the country is ‘on the brink of civil war’ and becoming a “capital of violence”due largely to high levels of criminality among its migrant population.
Speaking to The Express, Göran Adamson said that Sweden was losing it reputation as a “happy paradise” with figures from the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brå) showing that while homicide rates have declined in many other European states since the year 2000, the Swedish stats show a steady increase in such crimes.
Brå said that, “Up until a few years ago, Sweden was counted among the European countries with relatively low levels of homicide. During the period covered by the study, however, the homicide rate has increased in Sweden, and is now higher than that of many other countries.”
You can read the full report here.