Sweden and Denmark put pressure on tech platforms over anti-gang advertising

STOCKHOLM/COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Sweden and Denmark will subpoena technology companies over ads on their platforms being placed by gangs to recruit young Swedes to commit violent crimes in the Nordic countries, the two countries' justice ministers said on Wednesday.

Sweden has struggled with gang violence and juvenile delinquency for decades, and the other Nordic countries fear that this trend will spread beyond their borders.

Since April, there have been 25 cases of Swedish gang members being hired by Danish gangs to carry out violent attacks on rivals in Denmark, often through advertisements on messaging platforms such as Telegram.

Swedish Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer said at a joint press conference with his Danish counterpart that the gangs were innovative and had started recruiting young people online.

“We will hold these platforms accountable and hold them responsible for what is happening in our shared Nordic space. It is about asking the very legitimate question: what are you doing? Are you doing enough?” he said, without naming any specific company.

“And if the answers are not satisfactory, we need to consider whether we can do something to further increase the pressure on these platforms so that they work even more effectively in prevention.”

Danish Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard said encrypted services and social media are often used to support crimes. He named Telegram and TikTok. If it were up to him, some communication platforms would be geo-blocked and closed.

“That is not legally possible today. But we are constantly trying to see whether these possibilities can be developed and found,” he said.

A TikTok spokesperson for the Nordic countries said the company had no comment on the ministers' statement but looked forward to working with governments on the matter. Telegram, Meta and X did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Sweden announced last week that the Nordic countries would strengthen their police cooperation and set up a central contact point in Stockholm to prevent the country's gang crime from spreading to Norway, Finland and Denmark.

Denmark tightened security checks at its Swedish border this summer and began increasing surveillance of train passengers arriving from Sweden, as the EU's open borders make it easier for criminals to move around the Nordic region.

Sweden has the highest per capita rate of gun violence in the European Union. Last year, 55 people were shot dead in 363 separate incidents in a country of just 10 million people. By comparison, the other three Nordic countries together had just six fatal shootings.

(Reporting by Johan Ahlander in Stockholm and Isabelle Yr Carlsson and Louise Breusch Rasmussen in Copenhagen; editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa)