Promoting Illegal Activity

Online platforms, by providing users with means of communication, can inadvertently facilitate illegal activities that are explicitly prohibited by law. Today, the internet primarily enables non-violent offenses such as drug trafficking, fraud, hacking, money laundering, and copyright infringement. However, instances do arise where the internet becomes a platform for violent crimes like terrorism, child exploitation, and insurrection.

The effectiveness of internet platforms in facilitating illegal activities depends on their ability to make their space feel comfortable to those intentionally breaking the law:

• Anonymous or pseudonymous access to platform features
• End-to-end encrypted messages
• The ability to enter into loosely regulated financial transactions
• External commitments to disk-less servers, log erasure, or disclosure guarantees

Each of these features makes folks taking illegal action more comfortable using the platform through each's contribution to a sense of impunity. Each of these features is also a deliberate design choice. Although state agencies are ultimately the ones responsible for law enforcement, platforms have an important role to play in aiding the authority's efforts when crimes are committed or coordinated on their sites, and the design of their platforms can make those efforts dramatically more (or less) effective.