Those who commit crimes and engage in other bad behavior have long done little to hide the evidence. In the past it might have included keeping “trophies” as a reminder of the deed, and there was a trend not all that long ago included youths recording their exploits on video tape and more recently on smartphones.
What has become increasing disturbing is that the bad behavior—including by street gangs—is now being shared on social media. This is both to show off and as a form of digital marketing to recruit new members, while the platforms are also increasingly used a communication platform.
“It’s worth considering this as a generational issue,” explained technology analyst Charles King of Pund-IT. “Social media sites and their related technologies are essentially communications platforms, like the emails, cellular and landline phones and printed publications that came before them. It’s easy to see why gangs use social sites to promote themselves and recruit new members. Stopping those activities, while seemingly beneficial, would require social platforms to exercise levels of granular management and control that they claim is too difficult to perform at scale, despite the fact that they can somehow deliver highly targeted ads to their users.”
The Rise of “Cyberbanging”
Earlier this year, the Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center warned of the rise in so-called “cyberbanging,” where gangs employ “the broad reach of social media to recruit new members, intimidate rivals, promote criminal activity, advertise their brand, communicate between members, brag about accomplishment to validate street credibility/dominance, and antagonize rivals.”
What is worrisome is how the gangs are so open about their activities. Videos showing illegal activities can attract a large number of videos before being removed, if it reaches that point.
“Social media creators have historically taken a laissez-faire approach to monitoring content,” warned Dr. Julianna Kirschner, lecturer in the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California.
“Across platforms, reporting functions exist, but they rely on vigilant users to spot and report problematic content,” suggested Kirschner. “However, many of these marketing aspects by gangs tend to happen in obscure corners of social media platforms, so the average user may not stumble upon it. If they do, they may not realize what they are seeing, especially if recruiters and the recruited are speaking in euphemisms and code.”
The degree to which these groups use social media for recruitment and manipulation is currently unknown with the privacy features in place.
“Both research and news media confirm this activity is occurring,” added Kirschner, who said that more needs to be done to prevent further marketing and recruitment by gangs and even terrorist groups on social media.
“The first step would require more investment in safety to balance with privacy efforts,” she continued. “Platforms should bring in moderators and compensate them for their time. Human users can identify or flag anything that seems suspicious or problematic. AI could also be used to follow patterns and highlight users and posts that could potentially be marketing the harmful ideologies of gangs and terrorist groups.”
An Untraceable Communication Tool
The other ominous trend is how gangs, organized crime, and even terrorists, can use the platforms as communication tools. Part of the issue is that the social media companies and tech giants keep touting how secure their platforms are, and it doesn’t seem to be the average consumer who seems interested.
Instead, criminals, terrorists and others operating in the shadows have a way to communicate—often without fear that law enforcement is monitoring the activity.
“Apple, Meta, Google, etc. claim that enabling essentially impenetrable encryption is essential to free speech,” added King. “Though they, ironically, are able to suspend those notions when doing business in highly restrictive and lucrative countries, like the PRC.”
The framework of modern communications is so large and sprawling that even if platforms were inclined to limit their use by criminals, those individuals and groups could easily bounce over to less restrictive or unrestricted options.
“Social media companies have worked to balance safety and privacy simultaneously leading to mixed results,” said Kirschner. “Privacy seems to have won out, because users with horrific agendas, like gangs and terrorist groups, have been using these platforms for their own ends.”
The time for the platforms to act is now, but until forced by legislation, it is unlikely anything serious will happen.
“The social media ecosystem is already an experimental space. However, one thing is clear: Gangs and terrorist groups do social media marketing because it works,” Kirschner continued. “People are swayed by propaganda that sounds appealing to them, so those with nefarious intents will use any tool necessary to accomplish their goals.”
Some gangs will thrive as posts could garner new members, while a few will find themselves behind bars as their videos are used as evidence. But it is clear that social media and online communication will continue to be embraced by criminals as much as by celebrities and influencers.
“Like I said before, this is a generational issue,” King noted. “Every generation adapts to and learns effectively use the tools at their disposal. Even criminals.”
