Politics
Sweden Considers Social Media Age Limit to Curb Youth Gang Recruitment
The wave of gang-related crime in Sweden has led to the highest per capita death rate in Europe.
Swedish police report that, over the past two years, gangs have increasingly turned to social media platforms as a "digital marketplace" to recruit anonymous teenagers—some as young as 11 years old—for carrying out murders and bombings within Sweden and across Nordic countries.

"This is a very serious situation," said Gunnar Strömmer, Sweden’s Minister of Justice.
“We are not ruling anything out,” Strömmer added, indicating that Sweden would study measures implemented by other countries to determine the best course of action.
In November, Australia introduced a ban on social media use by children under 16. According to Swedish police statistics, in the first seven months of this year, 93 children under the age of 15 were suspected of involvement in planning murders—a threefold increase compared to the same period last year.
Strömmer also noted that major social media companies, including TikTok, Meta, Google, and Snapchat, have pledged to do "everything in their power" to address the issue, emphasizing the need for "concrete results." However, platforms like Telegram and Signal did not participate in discussions, according to a statement from the Danish government.
Danish police recently revealed that since April, they had documented 32 instances of Swedish nationals being recruited to commit violent crimes. Danish politicians have labeled these young perpetrators as "child soldiers."
Swedish Education Minister Johan Pehrson expressed interest in Australia's recent social media ban, stating, “It will not be the first step, but it is not ruled out.” He emphasized the government’s intent to explore all possible measures to reduce children's excessive social media use, citing concerns that “we see that children … are wasting their lives.”