The Microsociology of Online Deviance (“MOD”) lab, Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen is a research team around Associate Professor Jakob Demant research project in Digital Deviance and crime. I boasts a strong record of high-quality research outputs, grant applications, and awards. Many of these can be specifically located in the context of recruiting and interviewing hard-to-reach participants, and conducting ethnographic research with stakeholders in illicit, grey-market, and deviant environments both online and offline. The MOD lab is currently undertaking a number of important studies.
• The ExOC study is a DFF founded study that aims to explore the creation and sharing of hateful memes online. This will involve a netnographic approach consisting of scraping, data collection, and interviews with youths that spread different forms of hate on a wide range of social media platforms through memes, potentially based on their belonging to multiple and sometimes overlapping deviant subcultures. The project will strive to develop novel microsociological theories on online interactions and group dynamics.
• The second study is a Trygfoundation study that develop an intervention in relation to the use of puffbars by youths in Denmark. These disposable e-cigarettes contain nicotine levels exceeding those found in regular cigarettes, and the proposed intervention will speak to the simultaneous health and criminogenic risks to wider society posed by the potential addictive nature of these substances, which may expose young people to other illicit markets.
• The third study named “Moderation and Trusted Flaggers of crime and hate. Challenges for smaller European countries. [MODTrust]” is a Google Trust and Safety research Awards funded study. In relation to online hate, online drug sales, and image-based sexual abuse, flagging content is key to the success of countering crime and deviance on social media. However, no research has yet addressed how, from a legal and social science perspective, this solution aligns with the intentions of the DSA. One key question relates to how the concrete models align with the distinct laws and regulatory nuances that exist across nation states. The research project aims to go beyond examining individual states and companies, and instead focuses on the inter-organizational aspects of content moderation, particularly the role of "trusted flaggers" in preventing digital crimes in smaller nations. To achieve this, we combine the method of affordance studies, which provides a specific user perspective from the margins of having a small language, with an organizational legal study of flaggers, law enforcement, and social media companies.
• The forth study is a Crime Prevention Council and Ulla V Bondesen foundation study that address hybrid youth crime in Denmark. This research project aims to understand the pathways into youth crime from the perspective of the offenders. While there have historically been numerous studies on the victim and vulnerability to various types of crime, there are very limited investigations into what motivates perpetrators to engage in criminal behavior. However, it is crucial to comprehend the offender's perspective in order to implement preventive measures related to criminal behavior. One reason for the underrepresentation of this perspective is that survey methods struggle to access the behavior and motives of offenders. This study will, therefore, employ an original but already well-tested digital ethnographic method in collaboration with survey methodology (Danish Youth crime survey).