Exploring the impact of the Media: useful but underutilised?

By James Grant

Knife crime among young people remains one of the most pressing issues in the South Yorkshire region and the UK. In the year ending March 2023, there were around 18,500 cautions and convictions for possession of a knife, according to the Ministry of Justice.⁸⁶  While policymakers, schools, and charities work tirelessly to curb this trend, another powerful force is shaping perceptions and behaviour, the media. For many young people, images of knives and violence are part of their daily scroll online, from popular Netflix TV shows like ‘Top Boy’ and ‘Squid Game’, to social media posts showing police seizures of knives and other harmful weapons. Many argue that this shows how the media has a negative impact on the youth of today when it comes to youth crime and antisocial behaviour. However, I believe there is a case to be made that the media could significantly help reduce youth knife crime in South Yorkshire and the rest of the UK, if invested well and given enough attention to by the UK Government. Here’s why.

The current impact of the media on youth knife crime

Most kids in the UK will have access to a television daily, whether it's to watch national broadcasts, Netflix or YouTube. Now it is likely that some of these shows that these children are watching may be below the recommended viewing age given by the BBFC.

Shows like Top Boy have earned praise for their authentic portrayal of urban life, unflinching in their depiction of poverty, violence, the drug trade, and the series doesn't shy away from showing knife crime as an integral part of this ‘gang culture’. While this show may depict the consequences of violence, it also portrays its main characters Dushane and Sully living a successful and rich lifestyle funded by these knife crimes and drug deals.

For impressionable young viewers, the message of the show can sometimes be muddled. Violence may be shown, but so is wealth, along with respect and power. In some communities where a kid’s options may feel limited and role models may seem scarce, the characters in shows such as ‘Top Boy’ may become some of their aspirational figures.

Social media

As well as television, social media can be seen to have a major influence on a young person’s relationship with knife crime. Many children are usually able to access social media from 13 years old and onwards because of online safety regulations and policies, but this is still a young age for these kids to see some of the things that can be posted on social media platforms. Many children, and even adults use some social media platforms like Snapchat or Instagram just to message their friends or post about their life, but there are many social media platforms such as Reddit, Snapchat and X that have little restrictions on what can be posted on their platforms. Unfortunately, due to this, there may potentially be many photos online of knives that may be accessible to a child.

Research commissioned by London authorities has revealed deeply concerning patterns in how young people respond to knife-related content online.

When police post images of seized knives on social media, often intended as deterrents or evidence of enforcement, it may not actually be doing its job. A study found that 53 percent of young people surveyed who encountered these images felt unsafe, scared, and worried;⁸⁷  and 55 percent believed their families and communities would feel afraid and fearful seeing such posts.⁸⁸ Worryingly, eight percent of young people admitted they would be more likely to carry a knife after seeing images of weapons confiscated in their area.⁸⁹

Rather than reassuring them of police protection in their local area, these posts triggered a defensive response due to worries that large and dangerous weapons are present in their community. Researchers have also noted signs of desensitization among some young people repeatedly exposed to knife imagery online.⁹⁰ When images of weapons become normalized in social media feeds, the shock value diminishes, and the perceived severity of knife possession may decrease.

Current legal framework

The Government has attempted to address social media on aspects of youth crime and other harmful content, however, there remains challenges when it comes to enforcement and its effectiveness.

The Online Safety Act 2023⁹¹  represents the Government’s biggest effort yet to regulate digital spaces. It places legal duties on social media companies and search services to protect users from illegal content and content harmful to children. Platforms must implement systems to reduce risks of illegal activity and remove such content when it appears. Crucially for knife crime prevention, they must also prevent children from accessing content that encourages dangerous behaviour, including violence and weapons.

Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 makes it an offense to send grossly offensive, indecent, obscene, or menacing messages over public electronic communications networks⁹².  This provision has been used to prosecute individuals for online posts and comments, as seen in cases like Chambers v DPP [2012]⁹³, though its application to knife crime specifically often depends on whether the post amounts to threats or encouragement of violence.

However, laws alone cannot stop the current problem of youth knife crime in the UK, legislation can remove the most harmful content and prosecute clear offenders, but it cannot address the underlying appeal of knife crime imagery or the complex reasons young people feel drawn to or threatened by weapons.

Making a change:

What's desperately needed is not just content removal but content replacement. Strong adult figures like teachers, parents, youth workers, celebrities, and other role models, must actively provide counter-narratives to what young people see on television and social media. They need to explain that the "high lifestyle" shown in dramas is fiction, that most people involved in knife crime experience trauma, imprisonment, or death rather than wealth and respect. They need to contextualize police posts showing seized weapons, explaining that these images represent dangers removed from streets, not threats still present. This was highlighted in the new national youth strategy that was recently released by the Government which argues for greater support to younger people in the UK by ‘halving the gap in who gets to do enriching activities between disadvantaged young people and their peers’⁹⁴ and providing ‘half a million more young people with an adult who can listen and support to them from outside of their house’⁹⁵. This is a step in the right direction by the government, but there is still a lot that could be done.

The need for early intervention

There is a big argument for early intervention when it comes to youth knife crime in this country. According to the Minister of State at the time, Edward Argar, in 2024 it cost the government £129,000 to keep one young person in a young offender’s institution per year.⁹⁶ Focusing more on early intervention would not only hope to reduce the number of young people even being placed in these Young Offenders Institutions but it would also significantly reduce costs massively for the Government, which in a time where the country is significantly in debt, could be crucial.

Social media could play a massive role in this early intervention. Scrolling, messaging and posting on social media is a part of most children’s day to day lives and the Government could use this to help educate them on knife crime issues.

In the 2023/24 financial year, the UK government spent £1.3 million running their social media accounts (including prison institutions).⁹⁷ This is currently the equivalent to keeping 11 children in a Young Offenders Institution, a fraction of the current expenditure on youth knife crime prevention. The Government could effectively use social media to run campaigns, raise awareness and educate younger people about fighting this knife crime culture. The UK Home Office has already had some success with this through their #knifefree campaign, despite the little amount of funding that social media is currently receiving. Despite social media not being the main tool used in the #knifefree campaign, the Home Office still showed the significance of it as their post announcing this campaign reached over 250,000 engagements compared to the 1000 engagements that they usually get in their other social media posts.⁹⁸ This shows that with greater funding and research to tailor the campaign towards the younger age groups, the media can play a vital role in early prevention through its vast outreach online and accessible education on the matter.

The government could also use social media for this matter by collaborating with famous celebrities and sportspeople to endorse an anti-knife crime message.

To conclude…

Television shows don't create knife crime, nor do social media posts directly put weapons in young hands. But they do shape perceptions, influence fears, and sometimes blur the line between consequence and glamour.

Addressing this requires a coordinated response. Content creators must consider their responsibility in how they portray knife crime. Police forces need to think carefully about how their social media presence might affect vulnerable young people. Social media platforms must enforce safety standards more rigorously. And crucially, communities must rally to ensure young people are exposed to strong, positive voices that can contextualize and counter what they see on screens.

Because ultimately, the goal isn't to shield young people from reality, it's to ensure they understand it fully, including the consequences of these actions, before they make choices that could end their own lives or take someone else's.

Further Reading

[86] Grahame Allen and Helen Wong, Knife crime statistics England and Wales (House of Commons Library Research Briefing, 28th October 2025) https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn04304/ accessed 10th December 2025

[87] Study shows impact of knife imagery not universal, but is more profound for some young people affected by violence, London City Hall (25th January 2023)  https://www.london.gov.uk/media-centre/mayors-press-releases/study-shows-impact-knife-imagery-not-universal-more-profound-some-young-people-affected-violence?utm_ accessed 29th October 2025

[88, 89, 90] ibid

[91] Online Safety Act 2023

[92] Communications Act 2003, s 127

[93] Chambers vs DPP [2012] EWHC 2157

[94] The Department for Culture, Media and Sport, ’Youth Matters: Your National Strategy’ (GOV.UK, 10th December 2025) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/youth-matters-your-national-youth-strategy#:~:text=community%20around%20them.-,Youth%20Matters%3A%20Your%20National%20Youth%20Strategy%20sets%20out%20how%20the,to%20age%2025)%20across%20England. accessed 10th December 2025

[95] ibid

[96] TheyWorkForYou, ’Youth Custody: Per Capita Costs’ (TheyWorkForYou 11th January 2024) https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2024-01-05.8178.h accessed 12th November 2025

[97] UK Parliament, ‘Written Question 33779, 25th February 2025 (UK Parliament: Written Questions and Answers, 25th February 2025)  https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2025-02-25/33779?utm_ accessed 5th November 2025

[98] BBC News, ‘Home Office emails reveal concern over ‘racist‘ chicken shop scheme (BBC News, 29th April 2021) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-56844675 accessed 5th November 2025

‍