The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), in partnership with social media platforms Meta, X, TikTok, and YouTube, has led a takedown of thousands of social media posts, pages, and accounts advertising the services of people smugglers.

By the end of last month, nearly 12,000 instances of this kind of online content had been removed.

The NCA launched its social media action plan with the aforementioned platforms in 2021 to help build understanding of how criminals use such platforms to advertise illegal services, help drive down exploitation, and disrupt gangs’ plans for dangerous, illegal crossings to the UK.

By April last year, the efforts had resulted in around 3,300 posts, pages, or accounts being removed or suspended.

The NCA said that, within the last year, it worked more closely with platforms to increase intelligence flows and target the gangs involved.

This has meant that almost 9,000 more posts, pages, and accounts have been removed, resulting in a major increase on previous years.

NCA’s organised immigration crime threat lead, Dan Barcroft, said: “Social media is key to how these organised crime groups operate, so these takedowns have a direct effect on disrupting their operations and criminal activity.

“We have seen instances of them having to change their tactics as a result, and the last few months have seen us take direct action against individuals suspected of posting this type of material.

“Tackling people smuggling is a priority for the NCA, and we are looking to disrupt the criminal’s business models in any way we can. This work is one example of that in action.

“The NCA has developed a strong partnership with the four social media companies, and we will continue to work with them to prevent organised crime groups utilising their platforms.”

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Dame Angela Eagle, the Home Office minister of state, also remarked: “This work is immensely important, and we will do everything in our power to crack down on the criminals who brazenly promote their people-smuggling businesses online and use social media to profit from human misery.

“Protecting our borders has never been more crucial. Together, we will take the action needed to address irregular migration at its source, dismantle the gangs and stop them from putting vulnerable people’s lives at risk.”