Introduction:
This assignment will investigate the connections that are made between criminal activity and social media platforms. Looking into the way that youth have directly had an impact into the way social media has dictated the way they are able to display their crimes.
Body:
Over many generations the way the that people interact has had drastic changes; the largest impacts of social media are on the youth of today. Baby boomers had a different social media perspective to what youth have today. Social media is an integral part of the society that we all know, with things that an individual posts on social media lasting forever. There are many social networking platforms that individuals partaking in antisocial behaviours utilise to display their crimes, particularly youth. These include but not limited to Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, TikTok and Facebook. Statistics show that 86% of teenagers use YouTube, 75% use Snapchat, and 70% use Instagram (eSafety Commissioner, 2018).
Youths are the main core of social networking sites, when youth are boasting about their antisocial behaviour and depending on the extent of what they post depend on the type of damage it can cause to that individual (Gupta, Yana. & Mangal, Ayush, 2021). Exposure online to criminal related incidents may trigger the crime and aggression within any individual, particularly young people. A prime example of this was seen in 2014 when two young people, inspired by the meme “slander man”, stabbed their friend. There have been many other incidents where crimes have been committed and posted to social media platforms by young people (Gupta, Yana. & Mangal, Ayush, 2021). Many studies indicate that social media exposure is significantly related to antisocial behaviour in young people (Gupta, Yana. & Mangal, Ayush, 2021).
Many young people view platforms to be beneficial in allowing constant connections to their peers and allowing them to stay updated with their lives. The Anderson & Jiang (2018) study talks about ways young people can be instantly connected with each other and share their lives through photos, videos and status updates. Young people have described these social media platforms as a key tool for them to be connecting and maintaining relationships, having creativity, and learning about the community (Anderson & Jiang, 2018). In saying this, whilst youth are able to see these positive benefits to social networking online, they are also able to identify the negatives in what social media can do be used for. This includes drama, bullying and pressuring of peers to present themselves in a particular manner (Anderson & Jiang, 2018). Anderson & Jiang (2018) states that youth play a large role in controlling content that they see on their social media platforms and have methods for preventing authority figures from viewing what they do on social media platforms (Anderson & Jiang, 2018). There is a large proportion represented in the Anderson & Jiang (2018) study that suggest they organise their social media platforms to only display content that they want to see. Further studies suggest that only one third of youth restrict or delete what they share on social media because they have a fear of their authority figure or figures viewing the content because they are concerned for the ramifications later in life (Anderson & Jiang, 2018).
The content that youth post varies by the age of the individual. Research shows that common types of content youth post include their family, emotions, feelings, and successful accomplishments (Anderson & Jiang, 2018). Further research into youth’s perceptions of social networking shows many believe it helps to deepen friendships and relates to positive feelings and emotions (Anderson & Jiang, 2018). There are also the negative impacts that social media platforms can impact on a young person’s life. Research on social networking indicated that a young person’s mental health has proliferated in the past few years: many studies explored if more frequent use of social networking can be associated with various concerning mental health issues in young people. These mental health issues that had been investigated in the study conducted by Nesi, 2020 included a look into depression, externalising and body image issues within young people (Nesi, 2020).
Young people are using social networking platforms to display their crimes and brag about their brazen lifestyles through sharing footage of themselves committing various offences whilst taunting the police (Barron, 2020). A look into a recent incident in Brisbane a local ‘youth gang’ were allegedly committed for a string of Instagram posts that showed teenage boys joyriding in stolen cars, risking community lives by travelling over 200km/h (Barron, 2020). Pictures of illegal drug use, weapons and large sums of cash, as well as boasts about being gangsters was all shared on social networking platforms (Barron, 2020). The youth were also boasting online of their fast stolen cars, jewelry and designer brands such as Versace & the use of emojis to hide their identity on social media (Barron, 2020). On an Instagram account run by a youth, the description read that “account does not endorse crime & is ran for entertainment purposes only” (Barron, 2020). These youth thrive from the notoriety and online adoration that they receive for their petty crimes (Barron, 2020).
The measures that are put into place by the Queensland Government are the ability for Queensland Police to be able to get the resources that they need to start action against this crime (Barnsley, 2020). Among some of the measures announced to cull the crime spree by youth are, ramping up opposition to bail when a youth offender poses a significant risk to the community & the establishment of an all-round the clock youth crime police “strike team” (Barnsley, 2020).
A representative for Sunrise, 2020 was able to interview a member of the ‘South-Side gang” and ask about how the youth brazenly post their crimes of stealing cars, taunting police and speeding for example, to social media. The youth stated that “they pretty much just do it for fun & to gain attention from the community” another stated that “I can just go and do my time. My time in detention was pretty good because we were treated well” (Barnsley, 2020).
TikTok and other social media platforms are fuelling trends in which teenagers exhibit edited videos of their crimes including ramraiding stores and stealing goods, vandalising school bathrooms, and stealing vehicles (Burrell 2022). It is stated that due to the highly suggestible nature of youths these trends spread fast and are often copied by other youth. TikTok, one of the leading social media platforms in which these videos are posted state that between April to June 2021, less than 1% of all videos uploaded are removed for violating its Community Guidelines or Terms of Service and that many are removed before they are even watched. 1% may sound minor but in the above-mentioned period of April to June 2021, 1% totalled to 81,518,334 videos (Burrell 2022). It is to be noted, however that TikTok’s Community Guidelines and Terms of Service prohibit videos that feature many other types of content such as physical harm, drugs, gambling, and nudity (TikTok, 2022).
Whilst there are an overwhelming number of negatives there are positives that address the situation of youth crime and individuals of the community being able to use these platforms to their advantage. A real-life situation of youth offending, Lane posted CCTV footage taken by the security footage around his house, allegedly capturing the youth to his Instagram page, where Lane has more than nine thousand followers (Gramenz, 2021). In the days following the initial post, Lane continued to post more information on the alleged youth offenders that included private messages, photos and the youths’ full names (Gramenz, 2021).
Although social networking has to protect the youth’s identities who stole Lanes car due to the youth being underage, Lane stated. Lane also posted a video to Tiktok where he was dancing alongside a video of one of the alleged youth offenders & wrote their first names in the caption (Gramenz, 2021).
There are multiple situations where the use of social networking platforms has become a deterrent to youth offending such as In Queensland, social networking falls under the same as traditional media under Queensland Youth Justice Act and identifying information about a youth is covered under the Act.
Soon after Lane posted the exposing information on social networking sites, he was contacted by a youth offender who initially apologized. The youth offender stated that they were “unbelievably embarrassed” after being exposed for lying about their family circumstances to their peers and had been set straight from the exposure. Lane said that the youth apologized to their family, and Lane took the video down but warned the youth that the video would be posted back to social media if the youth was caught committing more offences (Gramenz, 2021). Unfortunately, not long after was back to offending and posting their petty crimes on social networking sites.
Saint Lane interviewed a mother of a youth offender who agreed that social networking is a contributing factor to these youth acting out for attention online and within their community (Gramenz, 2021). Lane has said that social networking is the be all end for these youth offenders; it is bigger than the law. Lane stated that by him calling out the youth offenders that stole from him, it seemed like the only way that the youth could possibly have some remorse for the actions and consider stopping. He said that he holds the TikToks so that if the youth recommit, he will upload them back to social networking for the world to see, a way of revenge (Gramenz, 2021).
Furthermore, it is evident that the Australian government should consider funding programs that would educate youth workers in social media because some individuals that work alongside these youth are still thinking that social media is the same as it was back in 2000 and are representing them and guiding them in 2021 (Marsh, 2018). If a youth commits a crime, it is highly likely that the youth will post online to boast about it to their peers and the community or even a fight at high school; it is highly probable now due to social change that the video would end up on social networking sites (Marsh, 2018). Harding, a senior lecturer in criminology, noticed that youth gangs were using social networking many years ago, and the numbers have only doubled since then (Marsh, 2018). He stated that it is hard to prove this as no one has fully taken part in researching as most criminologists are stuck in the past and are not aware of the social change that has happened for youth today (Marsh, 2018). Training and support would help workers understand that (Marsh, 2018).
Conclusion:
In conclusion, there are connections between offending and social media platforms but many ways in which this has been addressed. Youth offending is increasing & with social networking devolving by the day it is becoming easier for youth offenders to display the crimes they have committed without being held liable even with multiple laws. The online networking advancement has seen to create numerous positives for youth with social change but unfortunately, the negatives of social networking have also caused downsides to what it has done to the youth of today. Significant training should be provided to those that work alongside youth to better prepare for social changes caused by social networking.
References:
eSafety Commissioner. (2018). Young People & Social Media Usage. https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-us/research/youth-digital-dangers/social-media-usage
Anderson, Monica. Jiang, Jingjing. (2018). 1. Teens & Their Experience on Social Media. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/11/28/teens-and-their-experiences-on-social-media/
Barron, Jackson. (2020). Drugs, weapons, wads of cash and 210km/h joyrides in stolen cars. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8188725/Drugs-weapons-cash-Inside-Brisbanes-violent-youth-gangs-brazen-Instagram-pages.html
Barnsley, Warren. (2020). Queensland Government moves to crack down on youth offenders as ‘gang’ members run wild. https://7news.com.au/news/qld/queensland-government-moves-to-crack-down-on-youth-offenders-as-gang-members-run-wild-c-738429
Bostic, Brittany. (2014). Does social media perpetuate youth violence?. https://yvpc.sph.umich.edu/social-media-perpetuate-youth-violence/
Burrell, Miriam. (2022). Tik Tok blamed for crime spree after teens commit crimes and post online. News.com.au. https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/social/tik-tok-blamed-for-crime-spree-after-teens-commit-crimes-and-post-online/news-story/292231849aad76971dd8116afb05a160
Cassidy, Tara. (2021). Brisbane teenagers accused of multiple luxury car thefts in Noosa denied bail. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-22/teens-denied-bail-after-luxury-cars-stolen-on-sunshine-coast/13180570
Dennien, Matt. (2020). What is youth crime, and is it on the rise in Queensland?. https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/what-is-youth-crime-and-is-it-on-the-rise-in-queensland-20201002-p561fv.html
Gupta, Yana. & Mangal, Ayush. (2021). Social Media – A Breeding Ground for Juvenile Offenders. The Criminal Law Blog. https://criminallawstudiesnluj.wordpress.com/2021/08/10/social-media-a-breeding-ground-for-juvenile-offenders/
Gramenz, Jack. (2021). Gold Coast musician Saint Lane outs teens on Instagram after alleged car theft. https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/social/gold-coast-musician-saint-lane-outs-teens-on-instagram-over-alleged-car-theft/news-story/48ee33a69e4a0619d2ed74c1c19c51cf
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Grove, Christine. (2017). How parents and teens can reduce the impact of social media on youth well-being. https://theconversation.com/how-parents-and-teens-can-reduce-the-impact-of-social-media-on-youth-well-being-87619
Marsh, Sarah. (2018). Social media related to violence by young people, say experts. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/apr/02/social-media-violence-young-people-gangs-say-experts
McGovern, Alyce. (2016). Social media and crime. https://www.latrobe.edu.au/news/articles/2016/opinion/social-media-and-crime
Muller, Karsten. Schwarz, Carlo. (2020). Fanning the flames of hate: social media and hate crime. https://academic.oup.com/jeea/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jeea/jvaa045/5917396?login=true
Nesi, Jacqueline. (2020). The Impact of Social Media on Youth Mental Health. https://www.ncmedicaljournal.com/content/81/2/116
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Hi Jacob, I enjoyed your paper.
It’s crazy to hear the number of Brisbane youth gangs around, I have heard more and more on the news of multiple burglaries and grand theft auto’s taking place. In addition, having 70% of teenagers using Instagram must be extremely influential and the fact they document their crimes on social media is ridiculous.
I agree that a significant amount of training needs to be provided to those who work alongside the youth to better prepare them. I would also argue that better education is needed for all young adults and teenagers, to educate them on the ramifications of crime and social media.
Thanks again, for letting me read your paper.
Hi Peter,
Thanks for reading my paper! It is concerning to know how many young people are in gangs within the Brisbane area and I agree, that education even in schools should be fundamental to all young people because actions like these follow you throughout your life.
Hi Jacob,
Your paper was exciting to read and well documented on the topic. I agree that social media influences youth, and as per my experience, I have witnessed a lot of worrying content where teenagers were vandalising public properties. A better structure to focus on these kids needs to be established for them to be able to voice out and seek help if needed. In my opinion, educational institutes and parents should emphasise the dangers of lousy influence to be better equipped to deal with this kind of situation.
You can check my paper on how social media helped in creating terror and panic during the covid-19 pandemic in Mauritius below:
https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2022/csm/374/social-media-helped-in-creating-terror-and-panic-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-in-mauritius/
Thank you.
Thanks for reading my paper!
I agree with you. More people in the young people’s lives should better educate them. I look forward to reading your paper.
Hi Jacob,
This paper was really interesting and brings up a really overlooked issue. Social media has become so relevant in the world and is used by almost everyone. It’s scary to think that a young child can happen to be on the internet and can see some pretty terrible stuff just by pure chance. Not only that but what could the visibility of such things mean for the youth as well. It’s hard to tell what kind of impact these things will have but it cannot be good. Whilst the issue of crime is not touched upon, my paper discusses the way that social media has become such a highly regarded mode of communication.
You can read my paper on the way Tik Tok has strengthened newer ideas of community here:
https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2022/csm/1213/tik-tok-strengthens-newer-ideas-of-community/
Thanks!
Hi Nathan,
Thanks for reading my paper! It is concerning to think about what kind of impact this will have in the future.
I’ll check out your paper!
Hi Jacob,
This is an interesting perspective, thanks for the read.
I remember doing some stupid stuff when I was younger, but it seems more recently we are seeing more ‘serious’ level crime happening. It looks like social media has added a competitive aspect to these actions, with youth trying to one-up each other to impress.
I am also concerned with the long term impacts of this. People make mistakes but it is only this generation that will have those mistakes chained to them forever. So the question is, does it become more socially acceptable to have a criminal history or will these people just have to manage it for the rest of their lives?
really great questions Raymond. We have all done stupid stuff, but the gravity seems to be getting larger! And I agree the competitive nature of people has made this all the worse. I am not sure having a criminal history has become more socially acceptable – good luck having a history and trying to get a job with many big companies who screen out criminal histories in the application stage. In my opinion the severity of the crimes are getting larger and social media is making it easier for the authorities to catch people so by default the numbers are now greater.
Hi Raymond,
Thanks for reading my paper.
I think it is something that all should be concerned about the impacts on the future with young people being able to commit such offenses and airing their ‘dirty laundry’ for anyone to see. I highly doubt that a criminal record would ever be seen as a socially accepted thing. I do think that young people need to be made more aware of what type of impacts on their own future this will have, as most I’m sure think being young nothing follows you and once they are 18 it will go away.
Hi Jacob，
I really enjoyed your paper, which had a very interesting theme. I was browsing TikTok when I found a young video blogger abusing his cat in order to gain traffic and attention.
The rise of social media today has led some young people to do things that are against the law and morality in order to gain attention. Your article exposing this view is particularly original. In addition, I think that in order to shape the correct values of young people, social software should give more traffic to those videos that promote positive energy and increase the discoverability of these quality videos, while supervising the content of the videos.
I think you’re onto something with gaining more traffic to videos that promote positive energy on social media platforms. It can be difficult for people to ignore crime-related content on social media as everyone has different opinions and experiences with crime. Thank you for reading my paper!
Hi Jacob
Thanks for the interesting paper. My immediate thought was, if youth wish to post themselves breaking the law and post it on social media, the police have free evidence? I understand what its like for youth and wanting to be “in” with their friends etc but “ram raiding” with stolen vehicles is pretty extreme. Do you think social media sites should have a stronger stance on this content being published on their sites, to prevent encouraging others to follow the genre?
Hey Harry,
I think the free evidence thing should stand up in court when charging these young people if it is clear who they are. If it doesn’t stand up in a court then Australia has something to work on as times are clearly changing. I think social media and other platforms that engage with these young people should have a stronger stance on this content as without it whats stopping them?
Hi Jacob,
This was a very interesting paper. Social media has been a catalyst towards crime, no doubt. Reading your paper reminded me of an issue that happened not too long ago in Sri Lanka and how it shows both aspects of how it causes crime and helps bring the offenders to the face of justice. You may or may not have heard of the mob attack on peaceful anti-government protestors by the pro-government mobs on the 9th of May. During the attack, I was able to witness how fast news of the attack spread on social networking sites such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, which caused thousands of people to flock to the protest site to help the unarmed peaceful protestors who were being beaten. Once the attack news subsided, news about the attackers started surfacing. Their faces were identified along with their names, and even addresses, and action was taken legally and by the protestors as well. Many news outlets were also sharing misinformation, so ironically social media was what provided the real situation for the most part. Later news about group chats used by the attackers were also identified and taken action on. So, I think the concept of social media stands on a very thin line between being a space to spread violence as well as a space to advocate about crime and bring offenders of law to the face of justice.
Hi,
Thank you for providing that insight! Social media is something that can go from 0 to 100 in 2 seconds I think. It’s amazing and scary how quickly a real-life situation can be broadcasted to every person who has access to the internet. I think that this is something our youth forget in these current ages as social media is still fairly a new thing & something we are still learning about ourselves with how to handle it and deal with things that are posted. It has to be difficult for young people of today to navigate their lives whilst there is this whole other life so to say online.
Hi Jacob,
Interesting paper. It was interesting to read that some youths were embarrassed about their behaviour when they were identified, but they enjoyed the attention they got from social media when they were not identified. I wonder if the amount of likes and comments had something to do with it and I’m curious to know why this makes them feel good if they aren’t identified. Is It a need for popularity and attention or just simple teen rebellion? What do you think their main motivations are? Further to, do you believe that youth crime is increasing because of social media, or do you believe that youth crime is the same as what it was but social media is just providing another platform for their exploits to be shared?
Cheers,
Chantal
Hi Chantal,
You raised some great questions. I think teen rebellion is a key factor but also considering the trauma of these young people needs to be accounted for. What has happened in their life for them to want to commit such crimes? Is there a bigger picture to why they are doing what they are doing? I think this question is something that needs to be researched more and insight into how we can better help these young people change their ways so that we can have a brighter future for the ones that end up committing.
Hi Jacob!
Loved your paper and the unique choice of topic! I personally am a true crime fanatic and I agree with everything you said a 100%. Social media plays a bigger part than we think it does. I also wanted to add to how platforms like TikTok encourage influencers and the public to post trends that seemingly romanticize crime by posting content such as “acting” out criminal behaviour even if it is fake and using that as a “thirst trap” which encourages the public and especially young teens to join and have a blurred idea of crime. I also talk about something similar (here is my paper if you’d like a read https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2022/ioa/901/influencer-culture-has-impacted-the-social-growth-of-young-teens/ ) where social media and influencers impact the social growth of young teens and while doing my research I did come across the crime element of it and found that there was a popular tik toker that recorded an innocent woman and named her a “Karen” for fame on TikTok and he soon after killed her husband- the full story could be found through this YouTube Link- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It1y9bu9VUA (viewers discretion)
What’re your thoughts on how TikTok could discourage these fake acting trends that surround the romanticization of criminal behaviour?
– Neha
Hi Neha,
I myself am also a true crime fan as well! Your paper sounds great, I can’t wait to read it.
Hello, Jacob Wood.
This was a great paper that I thoroughly liked reading. I cannot imagine any aspects of this research were very enjoyable; there was a popular video on Facebook in my native country of two young boys beating up another little child, gaining traffic and attention. Because of the advent of social media, some young people nowadays are doing things against the law and morals to attract recognition. Your post presenting this point of view is unique.
-Radib
Hi Radib,
That’s sad to hear about the video that circulated on Facebook. I suppose these types of things are becoming more of a common thing every day which I find disturbing. Young people need the education and support on how this impacts not just themselves but the people around them. I’m glad you found the paper enjoyable!
Hello, Jacob.
I thoroughly appreciated your article, which had an original subject.
Because of the advent of social media, some young people nowadays are doing things that go morals in order to attract recognition. Furthermore, I believe that in order to mold the proper values of young people, social media platforms should direct more attention to videos that promote positivity.
Hi Marie,
I think you’re right, social media needs to advocate more positive content on their services. It would make social media feel a lot less toxic!