Youth crime Qld: Dumb young crims entrapped by posting, boasting

Alleged youth lawbreakers are being caught bragging on social media daily, and in some cases being intercepted during live streams.

• Editor’s view: Little has changed

Almost 200 young offenders have been charged for boasting about their crimes on social media, as toughened up “post and boast laws” nab more juveniles across Queensland.

Police investigators have revealed alleged youth law-breakers are being caught bragging on social media daily, and in some cases were being intercepted on live streams.

The so-called “post and boast” laws were expanded by the previous government in August, creating a stand-alone offence for publishing material on social media thus allowing Queensland police to take action on those posting online.

The offence carries a maximum penalty of two years’ imprisonment.

Queensland youth criminals boasting on social media.

And it appears the toughened laws are leading to more arrests. Figures from 2023 show 90 youths were charged with boasting about their crimes over an eight-month period to November.

Meanwhile, data from Queensland police released through a Question on Notice in Parliament showed 195 people had been charged in relation to social media since August 2024 — double over a similar time frame.

And 170 were unlawfully using or possessing a motor vehicle while boasting on social media.

The latest data comes after The Courier-Mail revealed brazen youths were taunting the Premier and mocking the state government’s youth crime laws – actions which prompted David Crisafulli to say he would not be intimidated by “young punks”.

That social media account has since been taken down.

A white ute hooning on Brisbane’s M1 Gateway Motorway

Chief Superintendent Colin Briggs from Crime and Intelligence Command warned those posting online would be stopped with staff from the Digital Intelligence and Community Engagement team actively on the hunt.

Supt Briggs said the DICE intelligence unit was a specialist unit that worked across the state to identify offenders and victims through social media and other community platforms.

“It is an activity that we do see on a daily basis, we do see people posting – some of those videos can be reposts or could be old videos that have been reported again,” he said.

“But it is an activity we see regularly and we do see copycat videos, people that seem to be trying to replicate what they’re seeing and doing those things.”

“We’re actively using a number of techniques and systems to be able to look for that sort of specific behaviour and then try and identify those videos.”

Supt Briggs said the new laws had allowed police to charge people with the full extent of their actions – having the court see the totality of their offending.

“You can only imagine the things that people go through when they’re seeing the inside of their house in these videos and their car being driven all over the place and dangerously,” he said.

■ Explained: Qld’s youth crime crisis laid bare

A Meta spokesperson said: “Meta’s policies prohibit people from promoting criminal or harmful activities, and we remove this type of content as soon as we become aware.

“We rely on a combination of reports from our community, law enforcement, and regulators such as the eSafety Commissioner, technology, and review by our teams to help us act.

“We take these issues seriously and we engage with Australian law enforcement to understand trends, issues and concerns they have regarding content on our platforms, as well as provide a dedicated channel for law enforcement to flag content of concern.”

TikTok was also contacted for comment.

Another hooning image posted to social media

Originally published as Youth crime Qld: Dumb young crims entrapped by posting, boasting