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    Title Course Name Instructor Name 14 November 2020

    Uploaded by

    Talha Zubair
    The document discusses how social media influences crime in both positive and negative ways. It argues that social media conditions people to engage with criminal content and enables new forms of cybercrime. However, it also notes that social media allows crime to be reported and monitored. To limit negative influences, the document suggests fact-checking content and obtaining diverse perspectives.

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    Title Course Name Instructor Name 14 November 2020

    Uploaded by

    Talha Zubair
    38 views4 pages
    The document discusses how social media influences crime in both positive and negative ways. It argues that social media conditions people to engage with criminal content and enables new forms of cybercrime. However, it also notes that social media allows crime to be reported and monitored. To limit negative influences, the document suggests fact-checking content and obtaining diverse perspectives.

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    MPW-187574

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    The document discusses how social media influences crime in both positive and negative ways. It argues that social media conditions people to engage with criminal content and enables new forms of cybercrime. However, it also notes that social media allows crime to be reported and monitored. To limit negative influences, the document suggests fact-checking content and obtaining diverse perspectives.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    38 views4 pages

    Title Course Name Instructor Name 14 November 2020

    Uploaded by

    Talha Zubair
    The document discusses how social media influences crime in both positive and negative ways. It argues that social media conditions people to engage with criminal content and enables new forms of cybercrime. However, it also notes that social media allows crime to be reported and monitored. To limit negative influences, the document suggests fact-checking content and obtaining diverse perspectives.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 4

    1

    Title

    Course Name

    Instructor Name

    14th November 2020


    2

    Social media influences crime by conditioning people with copious amounts of content

    that a person is likely to watch. This is done by the use of an algorithm that uses data from the

    user and from users with similar interests to predict what kind of content will influence a person

    to remain glued to their screens. Unfortunately, because of this mechanism the news a person

    obtains from a social media site is vastly different from what transpires. For example, people

    holding anti-Semitic views are likely to see a very high proportion of content that vindicates their

    beliefs and therefore helps them justify illegal conduct against the Jewish community.

    Furthermore, social media also influences crime by allowing people to view and post incidents of

    criminal activity. As highlighted in the movie “The Social Dilemma”, such aspects of social

    media are often exploited for political means (Orlowski, 2020). One recent example of this

    comes from France where a pupil beheaded his teacher for showing cartoons of Prophet

    Muhammad and posted a picture of his severed head online for the whole world to see (Nossiter,

    2020). Such content appeases extremists in the US at both ends of the spectrum as both radical

    Muslims and Islamophobic fanatics manipulate people using such images.

    I think social media primarily leads to an increase in crime. One reason for this is that

    social media has given birth to a whole new form of criminal activity in cybercrime. Issues such

    as identity theft, bullying, and harassment take place on social media platforms every day. In

    2016, American celebrity Kim Kardashian was robbed in Paris (Bryant, 2017). Later

    investigation revealed that the robbers had made use of social media to gather intel on how they

    were going to commit the crime. This is just one example of how social media is used to

    victimize unsuspecting people. Social media also provides anonymity to criminals which makes

    them all the more difficult to apprehend and reduces the fear of being caught among criminals.

    At the same time, some criminal organizations can use social media to gain an audience for their
    3

    sadistic activities. One example of this is the online group Anonymous which is known for

    launching cyberattacks against governments and other institutions (Richards & Wood, 2018).

    Using social media, this group can distribute its illegally obtained content all over the world.

    Social media also increases crime by persuading people to take part in criminal activity as a

    challenge.

    At the same time, social media helps reduce crime. These include the fact that social

    media footprints can be used to track and monitor criminal activity, especially in crime mapping.

    Additionally, social media allows people to help authorities reduce criminal activity by reporting

    the activities online. Such campaigns have become prevalent on social media and the idea they

    promote is that social media can be utilized by individuals and communities to take action

    against illicit activity (Lab, 2014). Thus, to a little extent, social media has a positive influence

    on the effort to curb illegal activity.

    One way to limit social media influence is to avoid taking part in social media challenges

    that glorify illegal activity. These can be challenges such as Ghost Riding that involve filming

    oneself on the roof of a moving car or challenges that involve causing hysteria by sneezing on

    people in the middle of a pandemic. Another way can be to use the advice given at the end of the

    movie “ The Social Dilemma”, where the filmmakers suggest tips such as fact-checking the

    content we stream and share, and obtaining news from sources with perspectives that we might

    not agree with (Orlowski, 2020).


    4

    Bibliography

    Bryant, K. (2017). Kim Kardashian’s Alleged Robber Confirms Social Media Helped Him Plan

    Heist. Vanity Fair. Retrieved 15 November 2020, from

    https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2017/01/kim-kardashian-paris-robbery-social-media-

    heist.

    Lab, S. P. (2014). Chapter 7. In Crime prevention: Approaches, practices, and evaluations (pp.

    135-155). Waltham, MA: Anderson Publishing.

    Nossiter, A. (2020). France, Waging a Crackdown, Honors a Teacher and Depicts a Plot in

    Beheading. Nytimes.com. Retrieved 15 November 2020, from

    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/21/world/europe/france-teacher-beheading.html.

    Orlowski, J. (2020). The Social Dilemma [Film]. Hollywood; Exposure Labs, Argent Pictures.

    Richards, I. & Wood, M. (2018). Hacktivists against terrorism: A cultural criminological

    analysis of Anonymous' anti-IS campaigns. International Journal of Cyber Criminology.

    12. 10.5281/zenodo.1467895.

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