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Home Office to pay TikTok influencers to warn migrants not to cross the Channel
(www.independent.co.uk)
this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2024
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This is the best summary I could come up with:
The government has been using taxpayer money for social media adverts aimed at deterring potential asylum-seekers for the past three years, in France, Belgium and Albania – but The Independent has previously reported how they had instead targeted tourists and business travellers.
Under this expansion, the government will also seek to pay influencers on sites such as TikTok to warn of the risks and repercussions of travelling to the UK by small boat, and has been drawing up lists of social media celebrities who could be suitable.
Research shared with The Independent showed the Home Office paid Meta at least £35,000 for hundreds of Facebook and Instagram adverts shown to people in northern France and Belgium between January 2021 and September 2022.
A prior investigation by The Independent in 2022 also found the Home Office had paid £2.7m to Hong Kong-based firm Seefar since 2016, which conducts “migration awareness-raising and behavioural change campaigns”, including a controversial government website which saw ministers seek to deter asylum-seekers.
While such arrivals fell by more than a third in 2023, nearly 30,000 people did enter Britain that way, making it the second highest year on record, despite the government criminalising such crossings and pressing on with its ailing plans to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda as a deterrent.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “People smugglers frequently use social media to peddle lies and promote their criminal activities, and it is vital that we utilise the same platforms to inform migrants about the truths about crossing the Channel and coming to the UK illegally.
The original article contains 512 words, the summary contains 258 words. Saved 50%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!