[imagesource: Getty]

Priti Patel, the British Home Secretary, is on a rampage against social media companies for not doing enough to remove the “totally unacceptable” posts that are “glamourising” and promoting dangerous migrant crossings.

She wrote to social media companies after a particular video was found on TikTok that appears to show a group of men crossing the English Channel waters in a dinghy boat.

Sky News reports that similar posts have also appeared on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter, “advertising illegal boat crossings and fake passport and visa services”.

While the original TikTok video seems to have been taken down, Steve Laws posted a copy on Twitter:

Illegal immigrants are laughing at us. Calais to Dover is so easy that they make tiktoks to show the world. pic.twitter.com/g8WTOv3JhS

— Steve Laws (@Steve_Laws_) June 3, 2021

This is what Ms Patel has said about the situation:

“Posts which promote and even glamourise these lethal crossings are totally unacceptable.

“They encourage others to leave a safe European country and put theirs and their family’s life at risk and are even used by people smugglers to promote their deadly business.

“What these posts don’t mention are the people who have died trying to make this crossing, or those forced to spend 13 hours in unseaworthy boats in freezing waters.”

The number of people trying to cross the 35km route, which can be highly dangerous, has almost doubled this year, compared to the same period in 2020.

Over three days in the past week, almost 600 migrants were intercepted attempting to make the crossing.

Facebook says its doing its best to meet Patel’s demands:

A spokesperson for Facebook said it was working closely with law enforcement agencies around the world including the National Crime Agency and Europol to “identify, remove and report this illegal activity”.

“People smuggling is illegal and any ads, posts, pages or groups that co-ordinate this activity are not allowed on Facebook.”

But some say Patel is looking at the wrong part of the problem.

Via Metro, Enver Solomon, Chief Executive of the Refugee Council, said the government’s approach to tackling Channel crossings isn’t working and is destined to fail:

“The reality is that when fleeing war, terror and persecution, ordinary people are forced to take extraordinary steps to seek safety in another country.

‘Instead of relying solely on an enforcement approach to stop the crossings, this government needs to expand safe routes so that people don’t have to risk their lives taking dangerous journeys at the mercy of criminals and people smugglers.”

Solomon says the best way to tackle the issue is to create safe and regular routes to the UK, which could include an expanded resettlement programme and increases in the number of humanitarian visas granted.

[sources:skynews&metro]