Tweets and reactions: revealing the geographies of cybercrime perpetrators and the North-South divide

Lazarus, Suleman and Button, Mark (2022) Tweets and reactions: revealing the geographies of cybercrime perpetrators and the North-South divide. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 25 (8). 504 - 511. ISSN 2152-2715

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Abstract

How do tweets reflect the long-standing disparities between the northern and southern regions of Nigeria? This study presents a qualitative analysis of Twitter users' responses (n = 101,518) to the tweets of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) regarding the production and prosecution of cybercrime. The article uses postcolonial perspectives to shed light on the legacies of British colonial efforts in Nigeria, such as the amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates in 1914. The results revealed significant discrepancies between Nigeria's northern and southern regions regarding cybercriminal arrest, conviction, and sentencing. Specifically, the results showed that the EFCC's criminalization of Southerners differs substantially from that of Northerners. The contemporary manifestation of inequalities concerning the production and prosecution of cybercrime on Twitter reflects long-standing contestations (e.g., economic, political, cultural, geological) between the northern and southern parts of Nigerian society. Therefore, since the North-South divide in present-day Nigeria originated from British colonization, colonialism is the base that shaped the superstructure comprising political, religious, historical, geological (e.g., crude oil), and economic factors. In turn, the article spotlights that regional differences in educational attainment, originating from differing experiences of Christianization and colonization, interact with regional disparities in the production of cybercrime. More research is required to better understand how these contextual disparities in society interact with the production and prosecution of cybercrime, given that Nigerian cybercriminals defraud victims all over the world.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://home.liebertpub.com/publications/cyberpsyc...
Additional Information:	© 2022 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers
Divisions:	LSE Social Policy
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Date Deposited:	27 May 2022 10:27
Last Modified:	17 Apr 2024 23:14
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/115221

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