Under the government’s new proposal, senior executives who fail to prevent dangerous and illegal knives from being advertised on their platforms will be held accountable.
To combat the unacceptable use of social media and online marketplaces to market illegal weapons and glorify violence, senior executives of social media companies will face personal fines if they fail to remove illegal content quickly.
The regulation proposes to authorise senior executives of online companies to issue notices ordering them to remove certain pieces of content, potentially within two days. If the company fails to act, the police will send a second notice to the senior executive of that company, who will then be personally liable for a substantial fine if they also fail to act.
This is the latest step in the UK to fulfil the government’s commitment to halve knife crime over the next ten years.
The government is also advancing its commitment to ban ninja swords following a determined campaign by Pooja Kanda, the mother of Ronan Kanda, who was tragically killed using one of these weapons in 2022. Today, it will publish a consultation to finalise the definition of this deadly weapon – the first step in taking forward the legislative change.
Following a sharp rise in knife crime across the country, which has led to a sharp rise in knife robberies, the Home Secretary recently chaired the first meeting of a new taskforce focused on taking swift action to curb this trend. This week sees the launch of a nationwide policing drive, co-ordinated by the National Police Chiefs’ Council, targeting robbery hotspots to prevent violent crime.
