United Kingdom: the government decides to pay influencers to fight against illegal immigration
Paying influencers to fight illegal immigration: this is the new strategy of the British government, which has promised to reduce arrivals before the elections scheduled for the year. London is already doing this, successfully, he declares, on Albanian social networks.
Content creators will be responsible for publishing videos to raise awareness among their followers of the risks of illegal emigration. (Illustrative image) Getty Images - Matt Cardy
By: Emeline Vin Follow
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From our correspondent in London
,
The names of some of these influencers, OMG Dioh, Fabio Daja, Roxi Dibrani, may not mean anything to you, but they are sensations back home in Albania. Among them, a rapper, an influencer, an actor and they each have more than 100,000 subscribers on the
social network TikTok
. An audience pool that the British government intends to exploit.
Content creators will be responsible for publishing videos to raise awareness among their followers of the risks of illegal emigration, in particular Channel crossings orchestrated by smuggling networks. And they will also be responsible for relaying the messages dear to the British government: that anyone who arrives in the United Kingdom illegally will face the consequences.
The British government's strategy
We regularly talk about deterrent strategies put in place by the British government: attempts to relocate the asylum system
to Rwanda
, accommodation made more and more difficult, but we talk less about these communication campaigns. If this initiative to use foreign influencers to reduce immigration is surprising, it is part of a more general strategy. The government already sponsors publications on all social networks - particularly in Albania - to dissuade would-be travelers from coming to Great Britain, as well as advertising and "prevention" campaigns.
There is also the desire to use the same channels as the smuggling networks, because the government assures that it is motivated by compassion and the desire to protect the most vulnerable. The Interior Ministry boasts of having reached almost a million users in Albania. He does not confirm any figures, but the British press mentions a fairly minimal investment, a few tens of thousands of pounds sterling.
The “Albanian case”
Because it is one of the only countries where the government has managed to reduce illegal arrivals. In 2022, Albanians represented the largest contingent of asylum seekers and in one year their numbers fell by 90%.
Due to these communication campaigns but especially following an agreement aimed at facilitating evictions. The government therefore knows that the “Albanian case” will give it positive results to present, useful during an electoral year which promises to be complicated for the Conservatives.
Read alsoIn the United Kingdom, the fight against immigration, a priority for Rishi Sunak's government
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