With a qualitative research design, this PhD-project will examine different ‘career processes’ involved in young adults becoming engaged in illegal drug sales using social media platforms.

Aim

The purpose of the PhD project is to create new knowledge about young people's path into selling drugs on social media platforms. The project will investigate how this type of sale combines both ‘traditional’ sales methods (e.g. the use of street capital; the capacity for violence, knowing where and how to source the drugs) with more ‘modern’ digital techniques (e.g. digital capital; knowing how to use SoMe features and algorithms strategically in order to attract customers, and avoid attention from police). At the same time, the project will also gain an insight into how these young people perceive and handle the potential risk of being detected by the police.

By exploring these themes, the project will make a significant contribution to drug market research by expanding the understanding of digital-mediated drug trafficking and thereby expanding the field of cyber- and digital criminology.

Background

In recent years, a new drug market trend has emerged in which social media platforms (SoMe), such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, WickR and WhatsApp, are increasingly used to deal illicit drugs. This has provided dealers with new ways of contacting buyers thus increasing their potential for profit. International media, including Danish news outlets, have described how drug dealers are moving from street corners to SoMe platforms to facilitate drug sales resulting in problems for the police in their ability to effectively control these new drug dealing developments.

Research suggests that the increasing growth in combining the on- and offline in this new hybridization of offending “arises out of both digital connections and criminal opportunities that present themselves as a result of technological advancements” (Roks et al., 2020¹). In fact, Danish drug dealers have publicly announced that the use of SoMe platforms has made starting a career in drug dealing much easier. However, research exploring young adults’ pathways into online drug trading remains extremely limited.

¹Roks, R.A, Leukfeldt, E.R, & Densley, J.A. (2020). The Hybridization of Street Offending in the Netherlands. The British Journal of Criminology: an international review of crime and society. 

The study

Through interviews with 30 young people aged 18-30, who have firsthand experience with selling drugs on social media, the project will, among other things, explore:

1. What role social and digital learning processes play when young adults become involved in drug dealing via social media platforms, and how their identity is constructed and changed throughout their drug dealer career.
2. How young people utilize and combine on- and offline worlds, and how many different features and functions the technology has when young people sell drugs on social media.
3. How the young drug dealers perceive and deal with the risk of being detected by the police, including what different (technological and non-technological) steps they take to protect themselves.

The project will be conducted from May 2022 to April 2025.

Funding

The PhD project is funded by the BSS Graduate School, Aarhus University.