Holding Tech Executives Personally Accountable: New Measures Target Online Knife Sales

The Government has announced a new measure aimed at curbing the illegal online sale of knives and offensive weapons — a move that will introduce personal liability for UK-based senior executives of online companies who fail to remove unlawful content from their platforms. 

This policy forms part of the Government’s broader commitment to halve knife crime within the next decade and is a direct response to growing concerns over the online ‘grey market’. This emerging trend involves private sellers purchasing knives in bulk from legitimate sources and reselling them (often through social media) to under 18s. In many cases, the marketing of these weapons glamorises violence and contributes to their use in serious criminal offences. 

Consultation 

This initiative follows a comprehensive online knife sales review commissioned by the Home Secretary and led by Commander Stephen Clayman in October 2025. A public consultation on the new measures ran from 13 November to 11 December 2024, and the government is now seeking to move forward with legislation to enforce faster removal of illegal content and introduce direct accountability for tech leaders. 

The Government has also committed to: 

• Banning Ninja swords via amendments to the Criminal Justice Act 1988. 
• Introducing stricter age-verification requirements for online knife sales. 
• Aligning this new regime with the Online Safety Act and Ofcom’s developing codes of practice. 

What Are the New Measures? 

Under the proposed legislation published yesterday 24th April 2025 police will be given the power to issue Content Removal Notices to online platforms, marketplaces, or search services. These notices will require the removal of specific content deemed to be illegally marketing or selling knives or offensive weapons under existing legislation (including the Criminal Justice Act 1988, Restriction of Offensive Weapons Act 1959, and the Knives Act 1997). 

The measure will require online platforms, marketplaces, and search services to designate a UK based senior executive who would be responsible for the removal of the content identified within the notice. If the relevant company fails to designate a senior executive responsible it will be subject to a Civil Penalty Notice of £60,000. 

The Content Removal Notice would first be sent to the company concerned with the online platform or marketplace and they would be required to take down the specific illegal content within a specified time. This first notice would also be copied to the senior executive for their information. The company would have 48 hours to either take down the content and confirm to the police that this has been done. 

If the platform or marketplace fail to remove the specific illegal content within 48 hours, then the police would serve a second Content Removal Notice. This would be sent to the relevant senior executive as well as the online company warning the relevant senior executive that they may be personally liable for a Civil Penalty Notice of £10,000. The relevant senior executive would then have to ensure that the platform takes the specific illegal content down within 48 hours. 

Should a company fail to comply with two Content Removal Notices, the police will then issue a Civil Penalty Notice, of £10,000, to the named UK executive.  

Reviews and Appeals 

There are opportunities for the company and named senior executive to request for the Content Removal Notice to be reviewed and for the Civil Penalty Notice to be challenged including: 

• The right to request a review of whether the content specified is actually illegal. An officer of the rank of Superintendent or above will have 48 hours to review the notice. During this time, the notice is still considered to be issued and valid, but the content does not need to be removed until the police have conducted the review and responded. The police will have 48 hours to provide a written outcome to the company. If the police stand by the original decision, then the company must remove the content within 48 hours of the response. 
• A 28-day window for the senior executive to make representations before any penalty is enforced.  An officer if the rank of Superintendent or above must consider their representations and supporting evidence ahead of issuing a Civil Penalty Notice. 
• The right to appeal a Content Removal Notice  

What Does This Mean for Businesses? 

Online platforms and marketplaces will now be expected to play a direct and proactive role in identifying and removing unlawful listings of offensive weapons. Crucially, this is not just a matter of corporate compliance as individual senior executives can be held personally accountable. 

This marks a significant evolution in online regulation and underlines the importance of internal compliance systems, content moderation procedures and legal oversight for any platform facilitating user-generated listings. 

Olliers Solicitors – Leading criminal defence and regulatory law firm 

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