Social Media and Crime

Written by: Sheridan Torres, Nathaniel Koerner, Kristin Johnson, Diego Zanistanavicius, and Hodan Farah

Photography by: Unsplash and Pixbay

In the age of technology, most aspects of everyday life have shifted. New ways of connecting with people were invented, shopping was made easier, and overall ways to conduct business was shaped as well. With the rise of technology the world, in particular the United States saw an extreme rise in social media. Social media applications such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. are ways people share information and connect with others daily. The internet provides people with a level of anonymity, which can lead to crime, especially depending on the personal information people share. In this article, how social media has affected crime will be examined through child predators, stalking, social security,
terrorism, and the creation of cyberbullying.

Child Predators and Social Media

Social media applications such as Instagram and Facebook, among others, leave people
and their information is vulnerable, especially minors. Minors are easy to target on online forums due to their lack of knowledge of how to protect themselves online. A minor in the United States is someone under the age of eighteen, and a child predator is an adult who has the intent to engage in some form of sexual activity with the minor. Online platforms or social media applications are used “to initiate sexual relationships, to provide a means of communication between victim and offender, to access information about the victim, to disseminate information or pictures about the victim, and to get in touch with the victim’s friends.” (Mitchell, et al., 2010). Social media is very easy to engage in no matter the age, but it also targets the younger generations, as it allows for easier contact with their friends and is in general just a large part of society now.

One of the main things that predators use over social media is called sextortion. This is
when the “predator convinces the child to send them an explicit image of themselves and then
uses that image as blackmail to get the victim to continue to produce more inappropriate photos and videos.” (Nelson, 2021). This can also be extremely dangerous to the minor since they would be the ones distributing child pornography. One of the biggest issues with fighting this is the lack of knowledge available to the minor, and how the predators can hide behind an alias over social media. If minors are not being educated on the dangers of social media, or engaging in sexual conversations over the phone then how will they be able to recognize the signs? How will they know what to do if they are being approached by a predator? Also, there are many ways a person can hide their true identity over the internet. Law enforcement does not have the technology or the sheer manpower to be able to combat this rapidly growing issue. In recent studies “federal investigators believe there are more than
500,000 online predators are active each day and they all have multiple online profiles. More than 50% of victims are ages 12 to 15 and 89% of victims are contacted by online predators through chat rooms and instant messaging.” (Nelson, 2021). That is an outstanding number to try and combat and its constantly growing by the day. Some ways law enforcement could try and resolve the issue is by creating a unit to fight child predators online, but also going to schools and holding seminars for students on the dangers of social media. Even though girls are more commonly targeted, it would be helpful if all minors had the information, because it truly can happen to anyone.

Stalking and Social Media

In the world of technology and the internet, things such as stalking and causing harm to those via the internet have been increasing. One crime, in particular, is that of cyberstalking. In the eyes of the law there is no difference between physically stalking and cyberstalking and there are two different types one is considered not criminal and only leads to a restraint order. While there is a form of criminal stalking which tends to lead to an investigation although in the world of cybercrime and investigations there are some issues such as the idea that many people do not come forward with an allegation that they are being stalked whether it’s because they are being threatened not to go to the authorities or because they are ashamed of being in the situation and just want to forget about the situation. (M. al-Khateeb, Epiphaniou, et al. 2017.) This chart shows that even though 41.6% percent of people did not report their stalker, the chart shows that even if the person blames themselves, going to the police makes no difference because they believe they were at fault and there are limited actions the police can do. If anything, it is more likely to have made things slightly better, but it does not make it worse, so there is no harm in contacting the police. When the authorities do get an allegation they can then start the investigation. Although this is difficult because they have to find evidence of a crime and a suspect. While in the world of the internet, it is extremely easy to hide your identity and where you are, although it is not impossible because those involved can make mistakes and be caught. Then there is another issue when a suspect is identified but lives across the world and then has jurisdiction over the arrest.

Social Security and Social Media

Social Security is a program that assists retired individuals with the ability to live on their own with financial security granted by the government. This is necessary for people in that age category because as people get older the ability to acquire resources starts to diminish. The life-saving money is acquired through taxpayer dollars which are given to the elderly. When these taxpayers retire they will get their fair share of the money. This is done so people can live comfortably and live a safe lifestyle after retirement. Social media on the other hand is a different entity. Social media is a medium that allows people to interact with each other through profiles that they create themselves. There is no distinct similarity between social media and social security. Social security tends to be for individuals that are in their 60s and up while social media tends to attract individuals that are in their teens and early twenties as they have the most free time to surf the internet. These social media platforms include but are not limited to Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. On the SSA website, they claim “The Social Security Administration (SSA) is committed to engaging the public. Our use of social media supports our mission to “deliver quality Social Security services to the public.”(Social Security 2023.)

Some companies talk to their staff members on social media about Social Security benefits and retirement preparation. Sometimes but not likely the Social Security Administration also resorts to the reach of social media platforms to communicate to its users on how senior citizens can optimize and fully capitalize upon their available employment benefits. If senior citizens were savvy with social media platforms like Twitter and even basic email they can optimize their communications with the Social Security Administration rather than waiting on mail which takes a lot longer to reach their members.

A similarity between social media and social security lies in the employment of various forms of digital communication by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to connect with people. The SSA upholds a profile on multiple platforms for online interaction, offering insights into qualifications, entitlements, and other related matters concerning Social Security benefits. The staggering difference between the generation of people who use social media and the people who need social security is the lifestyle of the two generations that they live. Inflation is becoming greater and greater throughout the years and the younger generations have to deal with low wages while the older generation can live off social security. Over the last 61 years, the The United States consumer price inflation rate slowly increased from -0.4% and 13.5%. (Inflation rates in the United States of America 2021.)This creates an unfair circumstance where teenagers have to rely on their parents until adulthood. When this dynamic happens it prevents the parents from retiring and obtaining benefits from the government to retire. People who are interested in getting the most out of their social security benefits can use the Internet and the social media platforms they chose to further extend this right to retirement benefits.

Cyberbullying and Social Media

Social media over time has provided us with a sense of unity and connectedness. However, there is a negative side to social media. Cyberbullying has become a bigger issue as time goes on. Cyberbullying is defined as the use of information and communication technology by an individual or group to encourage purposeful, hostile, and frequently repetitive behavior that is meant to harm others. This can be on any social media platform and can happen in different ways.

Many people are targeted online by people saying negative comments, posting unsolicited pictures of the victim, or spreading false narratives. The act of cyberbullying is classified as a cybercrime due to the reason that technology is used to harm a person. In many places around the world cyberbullying is a criminal offense and is taken seriously in society. According to academic scholars, there are seven types of cyberbullying. These different types are flaming, harassment, denigration, cyberstalking, impersonation, outing, and exclusion (Willard 2007). At this time, cyberbullying mostly affects adolescents in society. Due to being born in the recent age of technology, the newer generations tend to abuse the privilege of having technology. The impact cyberbullying has on the victims is negative. The results of getting harassed online, tricked, impersonated, or humiliated can lead to serious mental health issues. Many people start to suffer from depression and anxiety which can lead to suicide. Researchers stated that cyberbullying can lead to mental health issues, “it can increase risk of suicide by amplifying feelings of isolation, instability, and hopelessness for those with preexisting emotional, psychological, or environmental stressors.” (Luxton, 2011)(. Social media has affected cybercrime over time by creating more ways for individuals to be harmed. It has been easier for the perpetrators to access the internet and technology to eventually commit a criminal offense by harassing others and causing emotional damage or even leading the victim to self-harm or suicide.

Terrorism and Social Media

As social media use has grown in our society, its use has also grown among terrorist and extremist communities. Social media is one of the most efficient forms of communication either inside a terrorist organization or between different terrorist organizations, among other functions like recruiting, spreading propaganda, and bragging. Content like pro-ISIS blogs, leadership statements, and gory images and videos have been posted on social media to inspire and guide others to recruit followers and incite violence (Safieddine, 2020). These posts got great amounts of attention seeing as social media can reach audiences all around the world, with the increase in access to technology, there is no limit to who can experience these posts.

It is simple for individuals to connect with people that have similar “interests, political ideologies, or geographical locations” (Dean, 2012) through the use of the Internet and this opens doors for the social networking necessary for recruitment (Dean, 2012). Terrorists or extremists will play on the similarities they have with other individuals to gain a follower. For example, Facebook has a ‘groups’ feature that allows terrorist groups to categorize their profiles together and they use these groups to locate more people with similar ideas (Dean, 2012). Social media is also being used amongst a community of people that have fallen victim to terrorist and extremist groups and are still dealing with their wrath as a way of spreading awareness of the events they are dealing with and as a way of communicating with others in similar situations. Anne Speckhard (2020) wrote of the ways that women held in Syrian Democratic Forces camps were using social media to communicate the frustrations they have with their living situations which are very poor and under the constant eye and control of their oppressors.

This dialogue is not only beneficial for communication across women in different SDF camps, but also beneficial for communication with people beyond those that are living in the same conditions as they are to remind people that oppression like this is still happening, and to draw the attention of forces that may be capable of helping them. Access to social media has served terrorist communities in many ways through its various forms of communication demanding a closer look into where we might see terrorists utilizing social media and investigating ways to cease this action. A good way to do this could be through the use of social media by the victims of terrorism and extremist groups and the communication they are having with their community and the rest of the world on their platforms, social media has proven to be helpful in the way that it does allow for this communication between victims.

Conclusion

How social media has affected crime will be examined through child predators, stalking, social security, cyberbullying, and terrorism. Extorting children is more accessible and easier to get away with over social media. People who are targeted for social security reasons don’t necessarily fit the demographic of those who are on social media, but it does not mean that other information could be stolen and used against someone. Social media allows for growth in communication, even between terrorist groups that pose a threat to society itself. Stalking can happen on an online forum which causes difficulties in law enforcement’s ability to investigate, and the crime itself is stigmatized in today’s society. Cyberbullying is a new crime that was birthed by the rise of the internet and social media and
affects all people in society.

Works Cited

Al-Khateeb, H. M., Epiphaniou, G., Alhaboby, Z. A., Barnes, J., & Short, E. (2017). Cyberstalking: Investigating formal intervention and the role of Corporate Social Responsibility. Telematics and Informatics, 34(4), 339-349.

Dean, G., Bell, P., & Newman, J. (2012). The Dark Side of Social Media: Review of Online Terrorism. Pakistan Journal of Criminology, 3(3), 107–126.

Inflation rates in the United States of America. Worlddata.info. Retrieved April 25, 2023, from https://www.worlddata.info/america/usa/inflation-rates.php#:~:text=The%20inflation%20rate%20for%20consumer,rate%20was%203.8%25%20per%20year.

Kimberly J. Mitchell, David Finkelhor, Lisa M. Jones, Janis Wolak, Use of Social Networking Sites in Online Sex Crimes Against Minors: An Examination of National Incidence and Means of Utilization,Journal of Adolescent Health,Volume 47, Issue 2, 2010, Pages 183-190, ISSN 1054-139X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2010.01.007.

Nelson, P. (2021, June 2). Deep Dive: FBI estimates 500,000 online predators are a daily threat to kids going online. KOAA News 5. Retrieved April 24, 2023, from https://www.koaa.com/news/deep-dive/fbi-estimates-500-000-online-predators-are- a-daily-threat-to-kids-going-online

Safieddine, H. (2020). Extremist content online: Instagram, facebook accounts spreading pro-ISIS propaganda. Counter Extremism Project. Retrieved April 25, 2023, from https://www.counterextremism.com/press/extremist-content-online-instagram-facebook-accounts-speading-pro-isis-propaganda

Speckhard, A., & Thakker, M. (2020). Isis-linked digital activism and sympathy-raising on behalf of Isis … icsve.org. Retrieved April 25, 2023, from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anne-Speckhard/publication/344358766_ISIS-Linked_Digital_Activism_and_Sympathy-Raising_on_Behalf_of_ISIS_Women_Held_in_SDF_Camps/links/5f6bd24f458515b7cf496935/ISIS-Linked-Digital-Activism-and-Sympathy-Raising-on-Behalf-of-ISIS-Women-Held-in-SDF-Camps.pdf

Social Security. SSA. Retrieved April 25, 2023, from https://www.ssa.gov/socialmedia/