Sweden’s centre-right government has proposed granting law enforcement the power to wiretap and monitor children under 15, all in the name of fighting gang violence that many feel the State has lost control over.
Justice minister Gunnar Strömmer declared that the measure was “about preventing crime” but more importantly it was aimed at targeting adult gang bosses who pull the strings through youngsters’ phones.
“This is very much about prevention. Preventing minors from committing serious violent crimes but also getting to those behind it, those further up the hierarchy who control and give orders. We must go on the offensive to break the gangs’ recruitment,” said Strömmer.
The proposed legislation, announced on April 30, would allow the police and customs officials to monitor minors even without any concrete suspicion of wrongdoing, under what the government called “preventive coercive measures”.
The proposal expanded the scope of the Prevention Act, which previously applied only to Sweden’s Security Service (Säpo)
Set to come into effect as early as October 1, the law would enable authorities to wiretap, monitor messages and detain children in connection with serious crimes.
Underage youngsters could be wiretapped and held for questioning, not because they had committed a crime, but because officials believed they might do so in future.
While Sweden has raced to ramp up its domestic surveillance powers, the European Commission has pushed its own plan titled Technology Roadmap on Encryption to crack encrypted messaging services including WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram.
Officials in Brussels stated that 85 per cent of criminal investigations were now hampered by encrypted communications and that the EU wanted tools to crack them.
Is the EU taking its next step towards '1984' by reading your encrypted messages?@Scaroleva and @YaelOss discuss in our latest video. ⬇️ https://t.co/DDOGTEKcTt
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) April 30, 2025
Sweden has grappled with gang violence for several years.
In 2023 alone, police identified a surge in under-18s being used for gang hits because minors faced softer legal treatment and were less likely to be stopped by police. Children as young as 14 have been caught carrying out executions.
In September 2024, both Sweden and Denmark increased pressure on major tech platforms, criticising their role in enabling gang activity through online ads and recruitment tools.
Officials warned that criminal networks were increasingly turning to social media and encrypted messaging apps to recruit minors and co-ordinate serious crimes.
Denmark’s Justice minister Peter Hummelgaard noted that authorities had uncovered numerous examples of gangs exploiting digital platforms to reach and manipulate young people into carrying out violent acts on their behalf.
Sweden echoed these concerns, vowing to hold tech companies accountable for their role in the surge of gang-related crime across the Nordic region.
“This is about asking a very legitimate question: What are you actually doing? Are you doing enough?” said Strömmer during a press conference in summer 2024.
“And if the answers are not convincing,” he added in August during a joint statement with Denmark, “we must seriously consider what more can be done to increase the pressure on these platforms to take real, preventative action.”
After over 30 explosions and several fatal shootings in the first month of the year, the Swedish government admitted the country was suffering from a new wave of violence over which it had no control. https://t.co/m0bclCg2ks
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) January 30, 2025
