Youth fall prey to social media's gun culture

In the absence of regulation, influencers displaying weapons encourage toxic masculinity through catchy reels posted o

PESHAWAR:

"Boys will be boys." This classic excuse is promptly presented by over coddling parents at the slightest reference to a shameful misdeed undertaken by their tattered safety nets for old age. While this shallow justification might defend a boy harmlessly tugging his little sister's hair for fun (thanks to son preference), it fails to work when the same toxic masculine behaviour is guilty of encouraging armed violence among millions of other young boys across the country.

One such youth, a boy hailing from the Faqirabad area of Peshawar, picked up his gun and fired at his friend after a minor altercation, killing the poor boy in no time. Later, it was revealed that the accused would regularly watch reels of young men displaying weapons on TikTok. While this case might be an extreme manifestation of the effects of the gun culture on impressionable young minds, the promotion of armed violence on social media has increasingly become a cause for concern.

An officer from Peshawar Police's monitoring team revealed on the condition of anonymity that during the last six months, the sheer volume of content promoting weapons and armed aggression had increased considerably throughout the province, with a large number of youths between the ages of 18 to 35 years displaying weapons through reels on TikTok.

"If the gun culture is not curtailed on social media, it can present a bigger challenge in the future. The free display of weapons on social media is causing two major problems. Firstly, after killing someone, extorters threaten the opponent with TikTok videos, spreading fear of their presence in the area. Secondly, other youths also emulate the influencers by making similar videos with weapons," said the Superintendent of Police (SP) Faqirabad, Talal Ahmad.

Sources have revealed that 55 TikTok accounts promoting weapons have been identified in the Peshawar Cantt area alone, out of which 27 of the accused have been arrested. However, the accounts that they were operating could not be closed since the police only registered a case against them under Section 15 AAA, under which the accused were released the very next day after paying a petty fine of Rs300 to Rs500.

Shabbir Hussain Gigyani, Senior Advocate at the Peshawar High Court, believed that the proliferation of arms plaguing the province two decades ago had returned once again to disturb the law-and-order, courtesy social media. "Currently, the police only issues challans under the Arms Act, which carries no major punishment, allowing the accused to be released immediately. The provincial government must devise strict legislation in this regard as soon as possible to curtail such social ills," implored Gigyani.

According to Professor Dr Iram Irshad, Chairperson of the Department of Psychology at the University of Peshawar, young people have a tendency to emulate the activities they see on social media. "When boys are exposed to violence and the gun culture on TikTok and other social media sources, they will try to copy it. This is having a very bad effect on the youth, due to which their interest in academics is decreasing," opined Dr Irshad.

Similarly, Imran Takkar, a child's rights activist, was of the opinion that the gun culture promoted through social media had become dangerously popular in both rural and urban areas. "While the promotion of weapons in rural areas can aggravate long held grievances, in urban areas it can propel the rate of crime. As a social worker, I feel that it is imperative to promote positive content on social media and train the youth to stay away from violence and immoral tendencies," suggested Takkar. Commenting on the matter, CCPO at the Peshawar Police, Qasim Ali Khan conceded to the concerns that the gun culture on social media was as harmful for the youth as was drug addiction.