Cops scan 2K social media profiles to crackdown on gun culture, gang glorification

Gurugram police have scanned at least 2,000 social media profiles as part of a drive to crackdown on people promoting gun culture, glorifying gangsters or encouraging criminal activities on social media, police said on Wednesday

Gurugram police have scanned at least 2,000 social media profiles as part of a drive to crackdown on people promoting gun culture, glorifying gangsters or encouraging criminal activities on social media, police said on Wednesday.

The profiles were traced to Gurugram and few other districts in Haryana, police added.

According to police, they traced 59 profiles on Instagram, Facebook and other social media platforms which contained posts displaying illegal arms and ammunition or promoting gangs and criminal activities. Of these, 42 profiles were linked to the display of weapons and 17 to promoting gangs and criminal activities.

The profiles were traced to Gurugram and few other districts in Haryana, police added.

On September 9, the Haryana government launched “Operation Ankush” to curb the trend of displaying weapons and posting short videos that promote criminal activity on social media, police said.

A senior police officer said the reels/short videos and long-form videos showing weapons and glorifying gangs were mostly accompanied by banned songs promoting hooliganism.

“After pinpointing such profiles and posts, the users were made to delete such reels and videos from their social media accounts. Multiple counselling sessions were also organised to make them aware of the impact of their content on society,” he said.

Gurugram police public relations officer Sandeep Turan said the operation also led to the recovery of illegal arms and ammunition from several suspects.

“At least eight FIRs were registered against such users under the Arms Act from whom such recoveries were made. They didn’t have any criminal antecedents,” he said.

In some cases, weapons shown in the videos were found to be licensed and had allegedly been provided by their owners to others for videos, Turan said.

Police said they had started the process to cancel the arms licences of such weapon holders in accordance with law, as publicly displaying or brandishing licensed weapons on social media are prohibited under Section 30 of the Arms Act.

The special task force of Haryana Police had launched a statewide drive in February 2025 against songs or videos promoting gun culture, organised crime, gangster glorification or criminal activities. The drive has led to police taking down more than 80 such pieces of content from streaming platforms, including YouTube and Spotify, police said.