Social media is getting used everywhere, the use of social media has increased rapidly like never before. People are very active on social media, everything spreads like fire here either its news or a viral video. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube are the leading social media networks that millions of users are using on a daily basis and can become famous just buy youtube subscribers. Most of the teenagers are using these platforms to keep themselves updated and connecting with other people around the world. Police departments, investigation agencies, and respective authorities are also active on social media which is a good thing.
Social media platforms like Twitter act as a bridge of communication between the public and police. The crime rate is increasing on a daily basis but how social media can play its part in dealing with crime? Social media platforms and their features always attract people especially teenagers, so some people even post criminal activities in that charm to show off. Things get worse when any viral video comes from nowhere, people share their opinion on social media and even decide themselves that who is suspect and who is a victim. Let’s find out how social media can be a source of help and hindrance in fighting crime.
Social Media – A Crime-Fighting Tool
Nowadays social media is more active in responding to any event or issue than any other platform. Social media is helping police and investigation departments in various ways and it’s a good thing for fighting against crime. People quickly pass their judgments on social media either it is any violence or criminal case. Uses on social media have direct access to police and respective department so almost everyone can send evidence material to police in the form of video or picture.
You would be surprised to know that Facebook and Youtube assisted police in arresting the murderer of a woman from Melbourne after the CCTV footage of her last moments shared via Facebook. There are many cases like this in Bahamas, USA etc. Social media is all about quick response to any crisis or situation, top trends on Twitter grab the attention of investigation and government authorities about any robbery, fraud, or any crime-related issue. As we know the data of almost every user is accessible through its social media accounts and can easily be accessed. Now, it is way easier for police and investigation agencies to fetch all important data from anyone’s social media profiles as a piece of evidence in any case.
Social Media – A Hindrance to Fighting Crime
As we know how the criminal justice system works, first law & enforcement departments arrest the suspect after complete investigations then present a suspect in court and proceed to the final verdict. Along with assistance in fighting crime, social media has also created lots of problems for cops and authorities to deal with crime. As we’ve discussed above, things spread on social media like a fire you can’t control the public’s opinion whatever it is. Whenever any criminal story comes on social media, people start trending that story on the top with different kinds of opinions and pieces of evidence. All of this proactive stuff on social media creates more pressure and problems for the authorities because you never know which evidence is authentic which is not. The panic is not good for anyone in any condition but some irresponsible acts on social media make things more complex rather than solving.
Social media is also one of the main reasons why cybercrime in banking is on the rise. Some fraudsters only need your date of birth and personal information from your social media like Facebook, Twitter, or Linkedin. They will practice all kinds of hacking tacts to scam you and break into your bank account for stealing your money. That’s not a movie scene, irresponsible and careless use of social media often leads to such fraud scenarios.
According to the leader for fraud and financial crime at IBM “The classic cybercrime doesn’t involve extremely sophisticated technology, it involves finding a date of birth on social media,”
FINAL THOUGHTS
We’ve gone through good and bad impacts of social media on crime and we’ve realized that social media can be very problematic when fighting against crime. Social media can be a great source of evidence for police especially in the form of any footage or pictures to lead police in arresting the suspect. We came to know that most people use social media irresponsibly by sharing their personal information which allows fraudsters to do scam and banking cybercrime sort of activities. As an overall summary, we can say that it all depends on people how they use social media and it is recommended to keep yourself secure on social media to avoid any scamming or fraud.
