TO THE QUESTION OF THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL NETWORKS ON CRIME

Abstract

The article emphasizes that social networks are an external (technological,
digital) expression of deep transformational processes at the level of
consciousness of both an individual and collective consciousness, changing not
only the technical processes of information transmission, their speed,
convenience and accessibility, but also more deep, multifaceted thinking
processes of people, awareness of one's own identity in a multipolar world of
multiple truths, where manifestations of criminality are so easily interwoven into
worldview voids.
It is noted that social networks in their modern understanding are
increasingly losing their communicative significance, acting more as a means of
organizing leisure time, instant receipt of unstructured information adapted to
the needs and interests of an individual person. To a large extent, this is related to
the rethinking of communication itself, which is increasingly becoming visual in
nature.
It is argued that due to accessibility, openness to any content, age and social
groups, social networks become a platform for manifestations of crime. Within
social networks, communities of deviant behavior can also form, which unite people around certain deviant behaviors, behaviors that are generally considered
inappropriate in terms of societal norms or moral standards. Deviant social
networks are particularly dangerous among children and adolescents.
Attention is focused on the fact that social networks can also be used in the
course of information and psychological operations aimed at manipulating mass
consciousness. Deepfake techniques are actively used by the aggressor state to
create videos and images on social networks that somehow discredit the
Ukrainian government, as well as the security and defense forces. Similar
technologies are also used to justify the commission of war crimes on the territory
of Ukraine.