With concerns about a surge of violent crime in London, experts are warning that social media videos posted by gangs bragging about guns, stabbings and killing rivals could be making matters worse.
Police officials and experts in criminology have agreed that the circulation of this sort of gang-related content could be adding fuel to the fire of the capital's current crime wave.
Dr. Mohammed Rahman, a lecturer in Criminology at Birmingham City University, said gang crime is currently a bigger threat to society than terrorism, as two teenagers were killed within minutes of one another last week after being caught up in a so-called 'postcode war'.
Dr Rahman told MailOnline that street and gang crime is on the rise because of an increase in social media use.
"One of the catalysts of postcode wars is social media," he said.
"Youths of today are using social media to stamp their authority within a particular locale through images, texts, and visuals.
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"There is a surge in video platforms such as Link Up TV and YouTube which are promoting individuals recently released from prison for serious crimes.
"Within the first three or four months they're on these platforms talking about stuff they've done previously. 'They may have stopped reoffending in the common term but what they've done is re-channelled violent energies and made it digitalised.
"I see individuals I know that have been incarcerated for a long time then film videos talking about violence and death."
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Some of the posts and videos have been deemed so disturbing that Scotland Yard has made up to 42 requests in three years to remove certain clips from YouTube.
Detective Superintendent Mike West of Met Police agreed that the online threats could be in part to blame for escalating gang violence, with almost 60 people having been killed in London this year alone.
He told The Times: "The gangs try to out rival each other with the filming and content - what looks like a music video can actually contain explicit language with gangs threatening each other.
"There are gestures of violence with hand signals suggesting they are firing weapons and graphic descriptions of what they would do to each other."
He added: "We have been working with Google to take down some of the videos but as with all serious violence, there is always more work to be done."
Featured Image Credit: YouTube