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@CounteringCrime our experts study and track the astonishing range and scale of #illegal activity occurring on #socialmedia. The majority of it takes place on platforms owned by #Facebook Inc, the world’s largest #BigTech firm. 1/14 https://www.counteringcrime.org/
In response to requests for data from lawmakers, advertisers, regulators, investors, the public, we are unrolling our Fact Sheet series. Each week, we cover one illicit topic that ACCO tracks. The series runs through the end of the year. 1st: Terrorism 2/ https://www.counteringcrime.org/how-social-media-fuels-extremism
Today we're highlighting trends. The 1st is the unprecedented convergence of illegal activity on social media. Endangered species, drugs, guns, counterfeit goods, child porn, human slaves, kidneys – whatever illegal thing you want – it’s all just a few clicks away. 3/
Crime sectors I didn’t even know existed until @CounteringCrime began – like the illegal tarantula trade (who knew?) – flourish somewhere on a Facebook Group. 4/ https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2018/10/tarantula-illegal-willdlife-trade/
Maybe you think illicit activity only occurs on the Dark Web. (I also thought that.) But it ain't so. Social media – especially Facebook – offer criminals much the same anonymity as the dark web, and a FAR greater reach of customers. 5/
You can post images of whatever illegal stuff you want to sell on #Facebook or #Instagram. You can negotiate prices over #Messenger or #WhatsApp. You can even send and receive payments. The only aspect of the crime that takes place offline is delivery of the product. 6/
And if you’re engaged in fraud -- or if what you’re selling is a video or an image (there’s a thriving market for animal torture content in Facebook Groups, for example) -- then literally every step of the criminal supply chain occurs on the platform. 7/
Another key is scale. The size of illicit markets on #FB is unprecedented, in every sector we study. Take narcotics for example. #FB reports removing millions of drug postings every quarter, meaning they are, by their own count, more than 400 times larger than the #SilkRoad. 8/
#socialmedia is also drowning in child sex abuse content. In 2019 close to 70 million images of child sex abuse content were reported to @MissingKids The vast majority of this material was circulated on Facebook Messenger. 9/ https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/09/28/us/child-sex-abuse.html
Lastly, social media algorithms throw fertilizer on once obscure crime sectors, like human remains trade. You thought that grave robbing was totally 19th century? Thanks to #Instagram, there’s a thriving, global market for dead body parts, skulls, fetal remains on #FB, #IG. 10/
One thing @CounteringCrime researchers find in common is that #Facebook recommendation tools link them to the majority of groups and pages pertaining to the subject they track, whether it’s the illegal traffic in endangered pets or counterfeit medicine or extremist content. 11/
#FB knows this. A 2016 internal Facebook study found that “64% of all extremist group joins are due to our recommendation tools” and that most of the activity came from the platform’s “Groups You Should Join” and “Discover” algorithms. 12/ https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-knows-it-encourages-division-top-executives-nixed-solutions-11590507499
That’s why it’s infuriating when #Facebook execs misleadingly claim their platforms are just a “mirror to society.” #Socialmedia firms are in no way a passive actor. They amplify and spread harm – and they do it just because it boosts their profits. 13/ https://about.fb.com/news/2020/07/facebook-does-not-benefit-from-hate/
@CounteringCrime is fighting for legislative reform to make it illegal for tech firms to host illicit commerce. Because the time has come to make #socialmedia safer for people and animals alike. 14/14
