London gang members are to be treated like terrorism suspects in a bid to stop a crime wave said to be encouraged by “violent” music videos on YouTube, according to reports.

Detectives will be given new powers to clamp down those who “glamourise” knife and gun violence through online videos in a move that comes after a rise in violent crime across the UK.

They will be traced and targeted in the same way as those who promote terrorism online, the Met Police’s gang crime chief Jim Stokley said in an interview with the Times.

It comes after it was revealed yesterday that YouTube had removed more than half of the music videos Scotland Yard asked to be deleted because they incite violence.

Commander Stokley said the new measures will mean officers no longer needed to prove videos and social media posts were linked to specific acts of violence to secure a conviction for incitement to violence.

He told the newspaper: “There isn’t specific legislation, and clearly we can’t use terrorism legislation [but] in consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), we have found some existing legislation which we are going to use”.

The new measures first need to be approved by the judiciary before they can be enforced, he added.

Cressida Dick, the Met Police commissioner, had blamed social media for fuelling a surge in murders in the capital, singling out the drill genre of rap music for glamourising violent crime.

Drill videos easily able to view online feature hooded and masked gangs threatening each other with violent lyrics, gestures and hand signals, with some attracting millions of views.

Read more YouTube deletes half of 'violent' music videos flagged by Met police

The Met has built a database of more than 1,400 videos to use as an intelligence tool as the force tries to tackle an increase in killings and other violent crime.

It comes after more than 60 murder investigations have been launched already this year.