Rudd: I’ll take on music industry over gang videos

THe Home Secretary is set to take on the music industry over songs and videos that glamorise gang violence.

Amid a wave of killings in London, Amber Rudd called on record companies to be a ‘positive influence’.

Some fear that rappers who boast about gun and knife attacks are seen as role models who help to ignite violence on Britain’s streets.

Her remarks came yesterday as she published her long-awaited blueprint for tackling violent crime, a week after a spate of shootings and stabbings pushed the number of killings in the capital this year to more than 50.

The £ 40million Serious Violence Strategy highlighted a ‘disturbing’ 94 per cent rise in violence recorded by police between 2012-13 and 2016-17.

Answering questions, the Home Secretary was challenged to tackle the music industry over gang-related songs and videos in the same way she was urging action from internet firms.

Bobby Martin, director of operations at Crying Sons, an organisation which helps boys and men caught up in gangs, said: ‘ We have songs that promote guns, we have songs that promote violence that are on mainstream radio and mainstream television to the extent that we actually make these people role models.

‘So there is a mixed message going out to young people. We should really be talking to the music industry and having a universal ban on these things.’

Miss Rudd said: ‘I think sometimes it’s easy to underestimate how much of young people’s lives are spent on social media and we need to make sure we influence some of the output in a way that doesn’t have the devastating impacts that we’ve seen.

‘So I think yes, looking to the music industry to also have a positive influence is a very good suggestion.’

There are particular concerns about ‘drill’ music, a strand of aggressive hip-hop often uploaded on social media that has taken the streets of Britain by storm.

Homemade videos provide a platform for rival gangs to threaten their enemies and air ‘beef’. They often feature gangsters in balaclavas rapping outside council estate tower blocks, waving weapons and spliffs.

A video uploaded on YouTube on Sunday had yesterday already amassed 42,000 views in just 24 hours. In it, the rapper boasted about ‘wetting’ a man’s chest – a reference to stabbing someone.

The slick production of the videos has been cited as a ‘ recruitment’ source for impressionable youngsters, who are taken in by drill’s supposed glamour.

Miss Rudd also warned social media firms they must no longer be ‘passive hosts’ in the fight to tackle surging levels of violence.

She said: ‘Some might say this is impossible. But when I called on social media companies to deal with terrorist content, they listened and took action. I’m asking them to do so again because it’s the right thing to do.’ Last night, it emerged that YouTube will hire an expert in jargon used by gangs so that it can police its platforms more efficiently. The web giant also says it will block videos where an individual brandishes a knife.

Despite the violent nature of the language used in the clips found yesterday by the Mail, YouTube said they did not violate its rules.

A spokesman said: ‘ In the UK, we have developed policies specifically to help tackle content related to knife and gang crime and are committed to continue working constructively with experts on this issue to be part of the solution.’