As small boats in the Channel hit record levels, social media and innovative sales tactics have become important tools for smuggling gangs charging up to £5,000 for illegal crossings.
It comes as Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, announced a “one in, one out” migration deal with France this week. Under the pilot scheme for every illegal migrant the UK returns, it will accept another who has made a legal claim on the Continent, typically those with family ties in the UK.
A record 20,000 people have risked their lives crossing the English Channel in the first six months of this year, with high levels of crossings expected in the coming days as temperatures pass 30C.
“One of the counter intuitive effects of tougher borders and stronger enforcement is that it pushes people into the hands of smugglers.”
‘Welcome to London’
Videos posted on social media show migrants folded into gaps between cargo boxes, living in tents in rubbish-strewn French forests, and walking long distances with their possessions on their backs.
One account shares an image of apparent illegal migrants getting out of a car after reaching their destination, quoting a figure of $7,000Walsh said: “They’re saying, ‘Yes, it is tough, and that’s why you need us’. And there’s probably some truth to that.”
Several TikTok accounts shared routes into Europe and the UK, with the price of journeys ranging from $1,200 to $7,000 (£900 to £5,000). They also shared videos charting journeys across the continent to Calais and on board small boats crossing the Channel.
Walsh, who works at Oxford University analysing migration to the UK, believes social media is an important tool for smugglers.
“This kind of content can embolden people in making a decision to migrate without authorisation.”
Many smugglers don’t just rely on their own pages to bring in customers, but lurk in the comment sections of people who have posted about their own successful journeys to the UK on TikTok.
In one comment to a TikTok video, a user asks: “Guys, how does one reach Britain.” A suspected smuggler replies: “Message me.”
Why are these videos still appearing on social media?
“As a result, we are working with the National Crime Agency and major social media companies, including TikTok, to seek the rapid removal of online content promoting dangerous small boat crossings. Since November 2021, the National Crime Agency has worked with social media companies to take down around 22,000 organised immigration crime related social media posts and accounts.”
In 2023, TikTok launched in-app features to try to minimise harm from smuggling and trafficking videos. It means when certain words related to this topic are searched for on the app, the user is guided to expert resources from anti-trafficking campaign group STOP THE TRAFFIK.
TikTok declined to comment, but did remove the accounts shared with them by The i Paper.
The company’s reporting claims in the first three months of the year, TikTok removed the majority of content showing human trafficking and smuggling within 24 hours of posting.
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