Editorial: When social media turns deadly

At first glance, the announcement last week that a grand jury has indicted 22 young men in relation to gang activity in Wilmington appears to signal progress in the city’s struggle against violent crime.

But that struggle, fought valiantly by police and community leaders, is made all the more difficult by a social media world that appears only to be growing by the hour.

Much of this summer’s Wilmington violence, according to investigators, has been the result not of drug or turf wars, but of disputes that originate and escalate on platforms like Facebook. What police call “cyberbanging” is an offshoot of the tragic phenomenon of cyberbullying. In cyberbanging, gang members use social media to boost their street reputations and call out rivals.

But its impact goes beyond gang members.

Consider this from Eddie Bocanegra, a co-director of Metro Chicago YMCA's Youth Safety and Violence Prevention program, as told to National Public Radio in October.

"This [non-gang member] could simply say, 'Hey, I was in class today, and the girl next to me was really cute. Her name is so and so. I thought she was fine.’ Well, this girl has a brother who is in the street who really already has a reputation of being violent or has a boyfriend, and he sees that post. Now it's like, 'Hey, why you making comments about my girl?' 'Why you making comments about my sister?' And it just escalates.”

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Preventing that escalation is the key.

While we regret the consequences of the “snitches get stitches” mentality, we understand how many in violent neighborhoods see it as a tool for survival.

That mentality must not apply to social media, where gang members post threats in open conversations that can be monitored almost anywhere in the world. Still, anybody who has ever engaged in a vitriolic Facebook or Twitter conversation can understand why playing peacemaker (while trying to remain anonymous) is rarely successful. In this case, though, the consequences demand action. It’s one thing when that dispute is over the presidential race or the Eagles’ quarterback situation. It’s another when the combatants believe the only resolution is death. 

So what can be done?

The technology certainly exists to automatically flag social media posts that could be characterized as dangerous. Scientists are even developing algorithms to analyze the social media accounts of suspects and victims and find patterns linking them.

But this isn’t a problem to be solved via software. First of all, who would decide what is “dangerous” or a “threat?” How would police follow up on every possible lead? And, importantly, how could such software be reconciled with the free speech and due process fundamentals of the Constitution?

As it is with cyberbullying, solving the problem of cyberbanging will require increased vigilance and education on the part of community leaders, clergy, school officials and, critically, parents. Most of all, it will require courage. Peace and prosperity in Wilmington and all of our communities depend on it.