New Delhi: Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke has slammed major social media platforms, including Meta, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, and others, to take immediate and decisive action against the online glorification of violent crime.
Her call came after a shooting at TV host Kapil Sharma’s newly opened café in Canada, followed by the disturbing circulation of the attack video online.
The incident occurred during the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday at Kap’s
Café that opened last weekend in Surrey, British Columbia. Unverified videos circulating on social media show armed individuals firing at the establishment.
“A recent shooting at a local business was brazenly filmed and posted online by an
individual claiming responsibility. This act was meant not only to harm its direct victim
but to terrorize our whole community,” Mayor Locke said in a public statement 11 July.
Shortly after the attack, a man identifying himself as Harjit Singh, alias Laddi, reportedly
claimed responsibility for the shooting in a Facebook post. Laddi is a known member of
the banned terrorist organisation Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and is listed among
India’s most wanted individuals by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
“A recent shooting at a local business was brazenly filmed and posted online by an
individual claiming responsibility. This act was meant not only to harm its direct victim
but to terrorize our whole community. That fear is real,” said Locke.
The Surrey mayor also mentioned that she visited the scene after the incident and spoke with employees and people in the area.
“I felt it first-hand last night while visiting Kap’s Cafe and nearby businesses and
speaking with employees and customers who now worry about their safety. A place that
should have been filled with buzz and excitement about the establishment was instead
overtaken by fear and unease,” she added in her public statement.
Role of social media
Mayor Locke also criticised the role of tech platforms in allowing violent content to
flourish: “It is intolerable that legitimate news content is sometimes blocked, while
videos glorifying violent crime circulate freely,” she said.
In a strong message, she called on tech companies to do more: “I am calling on Meta,
X, TikTok, and other social platforms to stop allowing violent criminals to weaponize
your networks against the people of Surrey.”
In the purported post Thursday, Laddi while claiming responsibility cited some remarks
made in ‘The Kapil Sharma Show’, as the motive behind the attack. The post mentions
that a character in the show had made certain remarks on Nihang Sikhs.
The post claims that Laddi tried contacting Sharma’s manager about it but the calls went unanswered.
After the incident, Surrey Police issued a statement that no one at the business was injured, and that SPS officers gathered evidence and canvassed the area for witnesses and surveillance footage.
Mayor Locke outlined specific and urgent steps that social media companies must take
to immediately stop the promotion of violent content.
She emphasised the need to permanently ban accounts linked to criminal organizations, promptly remove all content that promotes or glorifies violent crime, and implement real-time detection tools to prevent dangerous videos from going viral. “These steps are neither optional nor aspirational; they are essential,” she said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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