Social
media ads promoting small boat crossings to UK to be banned
Change to
border security bill will also make it a crime to advertise fake passports,
visas and work opportunities
Eleni
Courea Political correspondent
Fri 1 Aug
2025 22.30 BST
Ministers
are to outlaw social media adverts promoting journeys on small boats across the
Channel to asylum seekers.
The
government will create a UK-wide criminal offence that could lead to
perpetrators being sentenced for up to five years in prison and a hefty fine.
Though
facilitating illegal immigration is already a crime, the change will make it a
specific offence to create material for online publication that promotes or
offers services that would lead to a breach of UK immigration law.
This
includes advertising small boat crossings, selling fake passports, visas and
other travel documents, and promoting opportunities for illegal work in the UK.
Ministers
will make the change via an amendment to the border security bill, which is
making its way through its final stages in the House of Lords.
Eighty
per cent of migrants who arrived in the UK on small boats told government
officials that they had used social media during their journey, including to
locate or communicate with people smugglers, according to Home Office data.
The
department said it wanted to crack down on smugglers selling a false narrative
about life in the UK to desperate asylum seekers by criminalising those
promising illegal work online.
Yvette
Cooper, the home secretary, 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.”
The
change will also make it a crime to post online content that encourages someone
to break UK immigration law in exchange for money.
Rob
Jones, the director general for operations at the National Crime Agency (NCA),
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.”
The NCA
has taken action against organised crime groups using social media to promote
crossings, including a south Wales-based gang convicted in November 2024 after
smuggling thousands of people across Europe.
The gang
used social media videos posted by people who had made successful crossings to
promote the service.
Another
network operated by the Preston-based smuggler Amanj Hasan Zada, who was later
jailed for 17 years, also posted videos of people thanking Zada for helping
them.
There
have been cases of Albanian people smugglers who have used social media to
promote £12,000 “package deals” to get to the UK including accommodation and
employment, which will also fall under the scope of the new law.
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