In a blow to the people smugglers’ business model, the government has outlined new measures through its Plan for Change to crack down on social media content which promotes small boat crossings and fuels organised immigration crime.
Under a new amendment to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill currently going through Parliament, a new, UK-wide offence will be introduced to criminalise the creation of material for publication online, which promotes or offers services facilitating a breach of UK immigration law. This could include small boat crossings, the creation of fake travel documents like passports or visas, or explicitly promising illegal working opportunities in the UK.
While facilitating illegal migration is already a crime, the proposed changes would add another string to law enforcement’s bow, better enabling them to disrupt the gangs while they are publicising people-smuggling activities and provide an additional tool when building a case against those peddling this content.
Home Office analysis shows that approximately 80% of migrants arriving via small boats told officials that they used social media during their illegal journey to the UK, including to locate or communicate with an agent or facilitator associated with an organised crime group.
Many people who come to the UK and end up working illegally are often sold a false narrative about their ability to live and work here, creating a draw for people to risk their lives by crossing the Channel in a small boat. That’s why this offence will also crack down on content which explicitly promises illegal work which clearly breaches UK immigration laws.
The proposed measure will also make it a crime to post online content that encourages someone to break UK immigration law in exchange for financial incentives. An example of this would be someone being paid by a people smuggler to post content on social media which promotes illegal journeys to the UK.
Individuals caught by the offence could receive a prison sentence of up to 5 years and a large fine.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said:
Selling the false promise of a safe journey to the UK and a life in this country – whether on or offline – simply to make money, is nothing short of immoral.
These criminals have no issue with leading migrants to life-threatening situations using brazen tactics on social media. We are determined to do everything we can to stop them – wherever they operate.
We have to stay one step ahead of the ever-evolving tactics of people-smuggling gangs and this move, part of our Plan for Change to boost border security, will empower law enforcement to disable these tactics faster and more effectively, ensuring people face proper penalties.
National Crime Agency Director General (Operations), Rob Jones, said:
We know many of the people-smuggling networks risking lives transporting people to the UK promote their services to migrants using social media.
The majority of migrants arriving in the UK will have engaged with smugglers in this way. This is why we work with social media companies to target smugglers’ accounts, and we’ve increased the pace of takedowns.
These proposed new powers will offer UK law enforcement additional options to target criminal gangs and their business models as they use online platforms for their criminality.
Joanne Jakymec, a Chief Crown Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said:
We have been working with the Home Office on this standalone offence to provide our expertise on how best to shape its inclusion in the Border Security Bill to impact people smugglers.
Once it’s in force, the CPS won’t hesitate to charge cases where we have evidence of suspects using social media to advertise small boat crossings, fake travel documents, or illegal working opportunities.
We will also use the additional money allocated to us this year to recruit specialist lawyers to prosecute immigration crime cases referred to us by law enforcement agencies.
Online adverts for people-smuggling services are part of the business model for organised crime groups that everyone in the Border Security Command is working tirelessly to disrupt and stop.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) has taken action against a number of people-smuggling organised crime groups where social media accounts have been used to promote crossings, including a South Wales-based gang who were convicted in November 2024 and smuggled thousands of migrants across Europe. Social media videos posted by those who had been successful were used to promote the service they offered.
Another network operated by Preston-based smuggler Amanj Hasan Zada, later jailed for 17 years, also posted videos of migrants thanking him for helping them.
Cases of Albanian people smugglers who have used social media platforms to promote £12,000 ‘package deals’ to Britain including accommodation and employment upon arrival would also be within scope under the new measure.
Since December 2021, the NCA has worked closely with social media companies to remove around 22,000 posts promoting organised immigration crime, with more than 8,000 removed in 2024 – a 40% increase on the previous year. The new measure will bolster efforts by the NCA and other law enforcement to build cases against those who facilitate organised immigration crime in this way.
Combined with the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill’s new counter-terror style powers, the new legislation will ensure law enforcement are able to investigate, disable and bring people-smuggling gangs to justice faster.
In many cases, people smugglers who post content on social media also help facilitate journeys, for example by sourcing boats and exchanging information. That is why the bill will also make it a crime to supply or handle items suspected of being used to assist illegal entry into the UK, such as small boat parts – which could lead to a prison sentence of up to 14 years. It will further introduce an offence to collect information to be used by organised immigration crime gangs, such as small boat crossing departure points and timings.
Collectively, the measures will allow law enforcement to intervene in people-smuggling activity at a much earlier stage, disrupting their work before crossings can take place.
On top of this robust new legislation, the government has surged enforcement action against illegal migration, with a 50% increase in arrests of those caught working illegally, returning 35,000 people with no right to be in the UK, and imposing tougher sanctions against gang ring leaders, key intermediaries and suppliers of people-smuggling equipment.
And last month the Prime Minister agreed a groundbreaking new returns deal with the French. The pilot scheme will see small boat arrivals being returned to France, then an equal number of migrants will be able to come to the UK from France through a new legal route.
The agreement is intended to prevent illegal migrant journeys across Europe to the UK and prevent dangerous small boat crossings, helping to undermine the business model of organised gangs profiting from people’s misery by showing others these journeys could result in them being returned to France – ultimately saving lives.
