They're Finally Going After the TikTok Boat Promoters (About Time)

By HOAR Team 6 July, 2025 4 mins read 87 Views

Look, I've been watching this trainwreck for months now.

Those viral TikTok videos of asylum seekers literally filming themselves in taxpayer-funded hotels, bragging about free meals and showing off their rooms like they're reviewing a bloody resort? Yeah, well Labour's finally decided to do something about it. They're making it an actual crime to promote illegal channel crossings online. Revolutionary stuff, really.

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What Took So Long?

Here's the thing that's been driving me mental - we've had laws against facilitating illegal migration for years. But the threshold for prosecution was set so ridiculously high that not a single case has ever been brought to court. Not one! Meanwhile, smuggling gangs have been advertising their "services" on social media like they're running a legitimate travel agency.

Yvette Cooper's under massive pressure right now (record boat numbers in the first half of this year will do that to a Home Secretary). She's scrambling to add a last-minute amendment to her Borders Bill that would specifically target anyone creating, publishing, or posting content that promotes breaking immigration law.

The Amendment Nobody Saw Coming

The new UK-wide offence is pretty straightforward - if you're glorifying channel crossings or helping people figure out how to break immigration law online, you're looking at criminal charges. Should've been obvious from day one, but here we are.

My mate who works in immigration enforcement texted me last week: "Finally, someone with half a brain cell." Can't say I disagree.

Meanwhile, in Diplomatic Land...

All this comes right before Keir Starmer sits down with Emmanuel Macron in London for what's being called a "high-stakes summit." They're supposedly hammering out a "one in, one out" deal to return illegal migrants.

Honestly? I'll believe it when I see it. We've heard this song before.

The French have been playing this game for years - taking our money to patrol their beaches while somehow missing the dozens of boats launching every week. It's like paying someone to guard your house while they're having a cup of tea with the burglars.

Why This Matters (Beyond the Obvious)

Here's what really gets me about this whole situation. These aren't just random videos - they're part of a sophisticated marketing operation. Smuggling gangs use this content to show potential customers what they're "buying." It's advertising, pure and simple.

And we've been letting it happen on platforms that are supposed to have community guidelines. TikTok, Facebook, Instagram - they'll ban you for saying the wrong thing about a celebrity, but content that literally promotes breaking immigration law? That's been flying under the radar.

The timing's interesting too. Cooper knows she needs something concrete to show before the next round of boat arrival statistics come out. This amendment gives her something to point to and say "look, we're taking action."

Whether it'll actually work is another question entirely. But at least someone's finally acknowledged that maybe, just maybe, we shouldn't let people advertise illegal border crossings like they're promoting a holiday package.

About bloody time.

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Did you miss our previous article...
https://hellofaread.com/politics/holy-hell-reform-just-hit-290-seats-in-latest-poll-while-starmers-approval-rating-craters