MIGRANT smugglers are advertising dinghy crossings on TikTok despite a threatened crackdown.
The gangs have a dozen active social media accounts bragging about successful crossings, an investigation by The Sun on Sunday found.
One of the ads seen on TikTok
And TikTok appears to be the primary platform.
Challenged about the lawfulness of their trade, one account user replied: “I don’t know it’s illegal.”
Others deleted accounts when we messaged them.
We handed our dossier of accounts to the National Crime Agency, the Home Office and TikTok.
The platform took down videos for breaking its trafficking guidelines.
The Government vows to make advertising small boat crossings illegal — but a law is not in force.
TikTok said: “We take a zero-tolerance approach to content promoting human smuggling.”
“We work to identify and disrupt organised crime online, adapting our efforts to meet evolving threats”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are introducing laws that criminalise the creation of material for publication online which promotes or offers services facilitating small boat crossings.
“This will provide law enforcement with another tool to disrupt the business model of the smuggling gangs.”
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