The Hague could test banning troublemakers from social media

The Dutch municipalities of the Hague, Delft, and Zoetermeer want to take action against young violent groups responsible for violent incidents in the municipalities last year with a digital area ban, Omroep West reported.

After numerous acts of violence by young criminal groups, such as a shooting at a playground and in a school in Zoetermeer, as well as a knife attack in a shopping center in Delft, the three cities are resorting to new means. After teaming up to find preventive measures for the various acts of violence, the mayors of Delft, the Hague, and Zoetermeer are focusing on the digital realm, such as social media or websites, reported the Dutch broadcast.

According to the research agency Partner in Crime, which was commissioned by the three cities, youth groups are especially very active in the online sphere. However, municipalities hardly take action against these groups due to a lack of resources and visibility online.

With the digital area ban, " a person is (temporarily) prohibited from accessing certain social media or websites. A temporary ban on making specific statements online is also possible," Omroep West wrote.

Even if the digital area ban has been introduced as an efficient instrument against these acts of violence, there is still no legal foundation for it, i.e. no law has been written for it yet. Accordingly, it is still unclear whether the mayors of the three municipalities can legitimately use this digital territory ban, as this is still an "unexplored area" for them, they told the Dutch broadcast.

The council's letter revealed that 90 young people in the region are already currently involved in rival acts of violence. A so-called "person-centered approach" is being applied to the young people involved in order to get them back on track in the long term.

In general, with the digital area ban, the municipalities hope to put a stop to the violence. They also want to use the tools they received from the research agency to further develop their approach to combating violent youth groups, according to the Dutch broadcast.