Labelling in a Digital World: A Theoretical Framework for Online Wildlife Trade on Social Media Platforms

• In Event: Theoretical approaches: Labelling, Situational Action and Institutional Anomie

Abstract

As online platforms become increasingly central to the global wildlife trade, regulatory mechanisms have evolved to monitor and control illicit and/or unregulated transactions. In this paper I explore how labelling theory - rooted in symbolic interactionism - can be applied to the regulation of wildlife trade on social media platforms. Existing criminological research has predominantly focused on state-centric regulatory mechanisms and legal enforcement. However, the emergence of platform-driven regulatory grey zones - where policies prohibit certain activities that may not be explicitly illegal - raises new questions about how online users experience and behave towards these mechanisms.

Drawing on labelling theory perspectives, this paper sets out a framework for how we might think differently about platform enforcement policies (e.g., content moderation, algorithmic detection, and account suspensions) as mechanisms of digital labelling, categorising certain actors as “deviant”. In the context of social media, this can result in users modifying their trading behaviours to evade detection, using coded language, emojis, or shifting platforms. Alternatively, do platform-imposed labels contribute to secondary deviance, where individuals internalise their “deviant” identity and continue illicit activities in more concealed ways?

This paper highlights the micro-level social processes shaping online wildlife trade regulation. Understanding how people respond to platform-imposed labelling offers critical insights for developing more effective and adaptable regulatory strategies and can further understanding of how enforcement efforts may inadvertently drive harmful trade underground.

Author

• Ashley Allen, University of Adelaide, University of Nottingham