News · Crime & justice · Published 11 July 2026
Swedish police call for new powers to stop crimes in digital spaces
DailySweden Editorial Desk
Updated 01:24 · 3 min read
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The Swedish Police Authority is calling for new legislation that would give public authorities greater power to intervene while crimes are taking place in digital environments.
Police say they can detect, follow and document online criminal activity but have fewer options to stop it than they would have when confronting comparable conduct in the physical world.
The authority points to the use of social media and gaming platforms to recruit children into criminal networks, sophisticated fraud directed at older people, the distribution of child sexual abuse material and cyberattacks against businesses, public authorities and essential services.
It wants laws that could permit several kinds of intervention. The examples given include blocking a person’s use of an account or platform when a child is being recruited for a serious violent offence.
Police also want the ability to block an internet-based telephone system being used for fraud calls, interrupt an active cyberattack against a hospital or government authority, and stop the continued distribution of child sexual abuse material.
National Police Commissioner Petra Lundh said people should be able to expect the same protection whether an offence takes place on the street or online.
The authority says any new intervention must be clearly regulated, subject to legal oversight and used with respect for individual freedoms and rights.
That qualification is important because the announcement is a request for legislation, not a description of powers police already possess. It does not specify the legal tests, which authority would approve an intervention or what appeal and oversight procedures would apply.
Those details would have to be developed through a legislative process. The Police Authority’s proposal sets out the types of harmful activity it wants to be able to interrupt, while also saying the powers must operate within rule-of-law safeguards.
No bill, start date or adopted legal change was announced. For now, the police are placing the issue on the policy agenda and arguing that existing tools have not kept pace with the movement of organised crime, fraud, abuse and attacks into digital services.
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