Facebook, YouTube and other social media companieshave been accused of failing toremovepages linked to people-smugglingas soaring numbers of migrants attempt the perilous crossing from France to the United Kingdom.

With more than5,600people landingin small beacheson English beachesso far in 2020, including 416 in one day this week,MPs were warnedthatnobody in the world has solved this problem.Almostall ofthe migrantsclaim asylum upon their arrival.

A senior official from the National Crime Agency said criminal gangs were taking advantageofend-to-end encryption and closed groups on social media tocirculate information about getting to Britain.

Rob Jones,itsdirector of threat leadership,said around 40 per cent of the pages linked to immigration crimereferred to social mediaorganisations remained online becausethe firms terms and conditions were considered not to have been breached.

Askedat the Commons home affairs select committeewhetherFacebook and YouTube would be among them, hereplied: Yes, they would.

Facebook responded:People smuggling is illegal and any ads, posts, pages or groups that co-ordinate this activity are not allowed.

Dan OMahoney, the official in charge ofcombating the people smuggling,toldMPs that Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, wasabsolutely committed to solving the problem.

But the former marinewarned:Its an incredibly complex problem that requires interventions at every stage of the route and some really, really innovative thinking.He added: Nobody in the world has solved this problem.

Tim Loughton, the Tory MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, asked about a French politicians comments that migrants head to the UK because it is easier to work illegally and live undercover.

He said: It would appear French members of parliament are party to putting around these misconceptions about how they are actually going to be looked after if they do make it to the UK.

Thats part of the problem, isnt it, that people are coming here on a false premise?

Mr OMahoney replied: I think thats absolutely correct.

Hepraised the overall efforts of his French counterparts to tackle the migrant crisis, telling the committee: They are as committed as we are.They have prevented 3,000 people from crossing this year, including yesterday close to 200.

Mr Mahoney, a former Royal Marine, said the French authorities had stopped a large boatwith unbelievably 63 people on itfromcasting off.

A charter flight with 11 migrants whose claims for asylum had been rejected took off for Spain yesterday. Ministers had hoped to remove 20 but nine did not board the plane following late legal challenges.

Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International UKs refugee and migrant rights programme director, saidBoris Johnsonsconstant talk of criminal gangs deflects attention away from the UKs responsibility to cooperate with the French authorities in establishing safe procedures for desperate and often very vulnerable people.

Unprecedented numbers of people are on the move around theglobe and only the tiniest fraction of them end up on the south coast of England.

The latest United Nations estimate suggests that there are some 272 million migrants worldwide, many fleeing war and repression in unstable states such as Syria, Iraq, Yemen, South Sudan and Eritrea.

Just a small proportion make it to Europe often after arduous and expensive overland journeys through the Middle East or across the Sahara to the Mediterranean.

As a result, Greece, Italy and Malta have been the European countries most affected by the tide of new arrivals in recent years.

However, some migrants set their sights on northern Europe with popular choices including Germany, France and Sweden.

Others have the UK as their ultimate destinationdrawn by family links and familiarity with the English language.

Upon arrival at theFrench coastpeople trafficking gangs can charge them 4,000to 5,000 to make the short but hazardous crossing to Kent.

Tighter security around Calais and the Eurotunnel, as well as thecollapse in traffic during the coronavirus lockdown, have forced many migrants to take to the seaduring 2020.

More than 5,000 havesofar taken their lives in their hands this year by crossing in small boats,compared with an estimated 500 in the whole of 2018.

Numberssoaredduring August and reachedarecord 416on Wednesdaywhen theweather conditions were ideal for attempting the journey.

See the article here:

Facebook and YouTube accused of allowing posts linked to people smuggling - iNews