Would-be asylum seekers will be targeted with TikTok videos aimed at dissuading them from attempting to cross the Channel in small boats.
The account Secure Borders UK has been set up by the Home Office and features videos of Border Force officers detaining and deporting migrants.
The department created the account on Tuesday and said it was aimed at tackling online misinformation. It is hoped it will counter the narratives sold by people smugglers who use TikTok to advertise travel to Britain.
In November, The Times reported that 80 people-smuggling accounts were still operating on TikTok despite a crackdown. The accounts had a collective reach of more than 233,000 followers and 1.46 million likes.
“Nearly 50,000 people returned or deported from the UK since July 2024,” the first video uploaded to the Home Office account read. “Eighty-three per cent increase in illegal working arrests. 77 per cent increase in illegal working raids.
“And it’s just getting started.”
A total of 41,472 people crossed the Channel in a small boat last year, according to official statistics. This is an increase of almost 5,000 on the year before, but shy of the record high of 45,770 in 2022.
Migrants board a dinghy attempting to cross the Channel in Gravelines, France
JACK TAYLOR FOR THE TIMES
The Home Office said the account had been created to tackle a surge in content on TikTok about migration, after its analysis found that immigration-related posts had risen by 61 per cent in three months last summer.
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, criticised the account as a “pathetic gimmick” that was a “laughable” attempt to stop small boat crossings.
“This is yet another pathetic gimmick that won’t work. The idea that putting some posts on TikTok will stop illegal immigrants is laughable — just like the government’s previous gimmick to smash the gangs,” he said.
“The Labour government is putting illegal Channel immigrants up in hotels, allowing rampant illegal working and allowing 95 per cent of them to stay. No wonder they continue to flood in, with numbers surging since Labour came to power.”
A Home Office TikTok video shows officers carrying out immigration raids
SECURE BORDERS UK
Richard Tice, the Reform UK deputy leader, said: “Using TikTok will not magically solve the boats crisis, nor stop the invasion of illegals. People want action, not trendy social media. Only Reform can sort this, by leaving the foreign ECHR [European Convention on Human Rights] so we can detain and deport every illegal chancer rocking up on our beaches.”
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The government is cracking down on illegal working alongside Labour’s manifesto pledge to “smash the gangs” that facilitate small boat crossings to Britain.
Immigration enforcement visits hit their highest levels since records began last year as officers targeted hotspot businesses, such as nail bars, car washes, barbers and takeaways.
Since Labour came to power, immigration officers had made 17,483 visits and arrested 12,311 people, leading to 1,726 people being returned to their home countries.