Silje Anderdal Bakken

• Bakken, Silje Anderdal & Harder, Sidsel Kirstine (2023). From dealing to influencing: Online marketing of cannabis on Instagram. Crime, Media, Culture: An International Journal. ISSN 1741-6590. 19(1), p. 135–157. doi: 10.1177/17416590221081166.
• Bakken, Silje Anderdal; Oksanen, Atte & Demant, Jakob (2022). Capital in illegal online drug markets: How digital capital changes the cultural environment of drug dealing. Theoretical criminology. ISSN 1362-4806. doi: 10.1177/13624806221143365.
• Bakken, Silje Anderdal (2022). App-based textual interviews: interacting with younger generations in a digitalized social reality. International Journal of Social Research Methodology: Theory and Practice. ISSN 1364-5579. doi: 10.1080/13645579.2022.2087351. Full text in Research Archive
• Bakken, Silje Anderdal (2021). Drug dealers gone digital: Using signalling theory to analyse criminal online personas and trust. Global crime. ISSN 1744-0572. 22(1), p. 51–73. doi: 10.1080/17440572.2020.1806826. Show summary

  Online and digital platforms play a central role in today’s illegal activities and related networks. Communicating through these channels makes creating an online criminal identity crucial to establish oneself as trustworthy and meet the needs of potential buyers, especially when reaching out to strangers in a market. A highly needed skill is balancing the signals of attracting wanted attention and of avoiding possible risks. This article explores how social media drug dealers present themselves in 173 Facebook profiles. The analysis of these online criminal personas is applied in two stages: a) a broader content analysis of the profile content and b) by using signalling theory to understand the overall visual presentation of these online criminal personas. I find that sellers fall into three main persona types: the professional dealer, private dealer, and cultural dealer. These personas signal trust in different ways through their choice of pictures, text, and personal information.

• Demant, Jakob; Bakken, Silje Anderdal & Hall, Alexandra (2020). Social media markets for prescription drugs: Platforms as virtual mortars for drug types and dealers. Drugs and alcohol today. ISSN 1745-9265. 20(1), p. 36–49. doi: 10.1108/DAT-06-2019-0026. Show summary

  Purpose Internet use has changed the mechanics of drug dealing. Although this has spurred some initial academic interest in how markets and their users have been changing, the issue is still under-researched. The purpose of this paper is to understand how the organisation of the distribution of prescription drugs and other illegal drugs overlap in these online markets by analysing data gathered from observation of the Swedish Facebook drug market and its participants. Design/methodology/approach Data were gathered during three months of digital ethnography conducted among Swedish Facebook posters supplemented by 25 interviews with sellers (20) and buyers (5). Screenshots and interview data were coded by carrying out an NVivo-based content analysis. The analysis is based on descriptive statistics of drug types, co-occurrence with other drugs, group size and the demographic characteristics of sellers. Additionally, the interviewees’ descriptions of the marketplace and their drug dealing or buying activities were included in the analysis. Findings In total, 57 Swedish Facebook groups that sold illegal substances were located. The groups rarely specialised in specific drug types, but were convened around demographic factors, such as specific cities and locales. The sales of prescription drugs were part of the overall activity of groups selling other illegal drugs, but they were more often sold in separate Facebook posts, possibly by specialist sellers. Swedish Facebook sales primarily concerned alprazolam, tramadol, pregabalin and clonazepam, and were sold by both professional and amateur sellers. Originality/value This study reports findings from a Nordic comparative study on social media drug dealing, representing the first in-depth study of digitally mediated prescription drug dealing outside of cryptomarkets.

• Demant, Jakob; Bakken, Silje Anderdal; Oksanen, Atte & Gunnlaugsson, Helgi (2019). Drug dealing on Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram: A qualitative analysis of novel drug markets in the Nordic countries. Drug and Alcohol Review. ISSN 0959-5236. 38(4), p. 377–385. doi: 10.1111/dar.12932. Show summary

  Introduction and Aims Internet use has changed drug dealing over the past decade owing to the emergence of darknet services. Yet, little is known about drug dealing in public online services. This study reports findings from a Nordic comparative study on social media drug dealing. It is the first in-depth study on the increase of digitally mediated drug dealing outside the cryptomarkets. Design and Methods A qualitative study using online ethnography and semi-structured interviews. One hundred and seven participants aged 16–45 years (mean age 23.1 years), with 83.2% being male, were interviewed. Data was coded in NVivo using general themes: modus operandi, trust and risk. Results Ethnographical data shows a high degree of drug-dealing activity on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook Messenger. Buyers and sellers also use encrypted platforms, such as darknet forums and the Wickr app on their smartphones. The medium used varies across the countries, as well as motivations for usage in connection with risk perceptions. Discussion Despite national differences, social media is a common tool used in selling and buying illegal drugs. Availability affects the prevalence of use of various social media; however, prevalence is also crucial for which media is used. Many of the participants report easily drifting in and out of social media dealing and buying, without being aware of the seriousness of the offence. Conclusion Based on the differences in attachment to the seller career, we advise that policing strategies should be supplemented with—and even stand in the back of—prevention campaigns.

• Bakken, Silje Anderdal & Demant, Jakob (2019). Online drug markets. A concept development of digital capital. Norsk sosiologisk tidsskrift. ISSN 2535-2512. 3(3), p. 209–227. doi: 10.18261/issn.2535-2512-2019-03-04. Show summary

  A growing part of today’s drug markets takes place online. The use of multiple online-based platforms has simplified the distribution of illegal drugs, globalizing it all the way to the consumer level. The trade takes place on encrypted markets on the darknet, on open social media, and through messaging applications, among others. Many of the characteristics of digital markets are similar to those of traditional drug markets. For example, the use of online messaging applications might be a natural evolution from the earlier use of SMSs and personal pagers (May & Hough, 2004). However, there are many characteristics leading to new possibilities, as well as challenges, for the market participants. In this article, we develop «digital capital» as a new concept to understand the values and needs of the participants in digital drug markets. The concept will be discussed against Sveinung Sandberg and Willy Pedersen’s concept of «street capital» (Sandberg & Pedersen, 2006). Differently to street capital, there is a need of high insight into encryption tools and other anonymizing methods to escape authorities. Self-presentation is not about clothes and looks, but rather profile pictures and written language, both in their personal profile or product description and during discussions. Openness through feedback systems in the digital markets makes good customer service from the sellers necessary, along with a continuous update of information and rumours of other’s experiences. The analysis is based on 114 semi-structured interviews with sellers and buyers from these markets, and hundreds of hours of digital ethnography in different online markets and connected discussion forums.

• Bakken, Silje Anderdal & Demant, Jakob (2019). Sellers' risk perceptions in public and private social media drug markets. International journal of drug policy. ISSN 0955-3959. 73, p. 255–262. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2019.03.009. Show summary

  Introduction From the early use of pagers and cellular phones to the darknet and smartphones, technological developments have facilitated drug deals in various ways, especially by altering time and space boundaries. Traditional drug market literature theorises about how physical markets, within which sellers act according to their risk perceptions and motivation, are led by supply, demand, and enforcement. However, there is an almost absolute research gap in understanding how this relates to digital markets and social media markets in particular. It is expected that the plasticity of technology makes digital markets highly mouldable so that the sellers are able to shape markets according to their use. Research aim The aim of the study is to describe and understand drug dealing on social media within the structure of existing markets. We aim to do so by analysing how drug sellers’ risk perceptions and motivations form and are formed by social media technology. Methods We conducted a three-month digital ethnographic study on Facebook and Instagram in the five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden), as well as 107 semi-structured qualitative interviews with sellers (2/3 of the sample) and buyers (1/3 of the sample) using online markets within the same countries. Results Drug dealing on social media varies according to the structure of the chosen media and users’ risk perceptions and motivations. Two market forms are suggested: 1) public digital markets (e.g., Facebook groups and Instagram) allow sellers to expand their customer lists, but the risk is quite high, while 2) private digital markets are based on one-on-one communication and demand greater knowledge but are perceived as more secure. Sellers choose which media to use and how to use them based on perceived risk and, therefore, have a significant impact on the formation of social media drug markets.

• Bakken, Silje Anderdal; Moeller, Kim & Sandberg, Sveinung (2018). Coordination problems in cryptomarkets: Changes in cooperation, competition and valuation . European Journal of Criminology. ISSN 1477-3708. 15(4), p. 442–460. doi: 10.1177/1477370817749177. Full text in Research Archive
• Munksgaard, Rasmus; Bakken, Silje Anderdal & Demant, Jakob (2017). Risk perception in emerging markets for illicit substances in Scandinavia: The effect of available information through online communities. In Kinnunen, Aarne (Eds.), NSfK`s 59. Research Seminar: Migration and criminology. Scandinavian Research Council for Criminology. ISSN 978-82-7688-046-5. p. 212–219. Show summary

  Introduction: Along an increasing use and application of technological means in a variety of lawbreaking endeavors drug dealing has additionally taken to the Internet. Cryptomarkets operate as hidden sites on the “dark web”. Through sophisticated use of encryption- and anonymization technologies cryptomarkets manage to operate almost as publicly and accessible as open street markets exemplifying a whole new distributional mode wherein drugs are shipped in the mail between vendors and buyers who never meet physically. Despite the transnational design both buyers and vendors find themselves in local contexts of policing and risk. In this paper we present preliminary findings from a study of risk on cryptomarkets in a Scandinavian context. Methods: Starting from descriptive results derived from an analysis of data from the DATACRYPTO project we utilize nethnographic observations on cryptomarket related forums. Findings: While Norway tends toward a domestic market, Denmark tends towards being a global or regional actor. Through nethnographic and qualitative research we find that the Norwegian cryptomarket economy has established online convergence settings with active buyers and vendors, whereas no such thing exists in a Danish context. Discussion: The difference in information available to the Norwegian and Danish buyer may have explanatory power as to the state of the cryptomarket economy in these countries. The information available to buyers is likely to inform their decisions on whether to buy domestically or internationally, and thus the abundance of risk-aware discussion on Norwegian forums may explain the domestic nature of the markets. Conclusion: Although the project is still ongoing, we here conclude that the availability of nationally specific information changes how risk is perceived and acted upon by cryptomarket participants. Compared to Danish participants, Norwegians have great access to risk diminishing information from other peers to avoid international shipping, which likely is an explanation of the variations in domestic/international sales.

• Bakken, Silje Anderdal; Sandøy, Thomas Anton & Sandberg, Sveinung (2017). Social identity and alcohol in young adolescence: the perceived difference between youthful and adult drinking. Journal of Youth Studies. ISSN 1367-6261. 20(10), p. 1380–1395. doi: 10.1080/13676261.2017.1333585. Full text in Research Archive

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• Bakken, Silje Anderdal (2024). DNA as forensic evidence and a commodity: The role of consumer genomics.
• Bakken, Silje Anderdal (2023). Moderering av panelet "Dark Web Rises".
• Bakken, Silje Anderdal (2023). The role of consumer genomics in DNA innovation.
• Demant, Jakob; Bakken, Silje Anderdal; Harder, Sidsel Kirstine & Elmose, Kathrine (2019). FOCUS: Digital transgression and the changing nature of crime. Discover Society. DS69.
• Bakken, Silje Anderdal (2018). Doing qualitative research in online drug markets: How to balance participant's anonymity and data reliability?
• Demant, Jakob & Bakken, Silje Anderdal (2019). Technology-facilitated drug dealing via social media in the Nordic countries. European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. Show summary

  Aims: Use of the internet has changed drug dealing over the past decade. While there is a growing understanding of the role of darknet drug markets, little is known about how drug dealing works on public online services such as social media. This study reports findings from a Nordic comparative study of social media drug dealing, which represents the first in-depth study of increasing levels of digitally mediated drug dealing outside cryptomarkets. Design and methods: A qualitative study using online ethnography and semi-structured interviews. Data were coded in NVivo by general themes: modus operandi, motivation, trust and risk. The qualitative study is supplemented with data analysis from the national Danish Youth Profile Survey of young people (13-25 years old) to establish the prevalence of online versus offline purchasing of drugs and to compare online and offline buyers. Results: Interview data consist of 107 buyers and sellers aged 16-45 (mean age 23.1 years), of whom 83.2 % were male. Ethnographic data (approximately 1 500 screenshots) show a high degree of drug-dealing activity on Facebook (113 observed groups) and Instagram (approximately 50 identified profiles), as well as on Snapchat and Facebook Messenger. Buyers and sellers also make use of encrypted platforms, such as darknet forums and the Wickr application. National data show a high volume of Facebook use in Denmark and Iceland, as well as in Sweden, where Instagram is also widely used. Norway had no discernible activity on Facebook, but rather used Snapchat and Wickr. Finland used encrypted channels such as Wickr and a national darknet forum. The Danish Youth Profile Survey results indicate that 36 % of young people buying drugs source them online. Discussion: Social media is a common tool used in the buying and selling of illicit drugs. National differences in the use of social media in drug trading across the five Nordic countries might be influenced by various factors such as cultural context and drug legislation. Our analysis indicates that social media markets may be entry-level markets for the youngest stratum of drug users. Social media markets are highly liable to fluctuation, so uncertainty prevails with regard to their future use. Further research is needed to address this issue, taking into consideration how rapidly change may occur

• Bakken, Silje Anderdal (2015). Silk Road 2.0: A study of cryptomarkets in a deleuze-guattarian perspective. Universitetet i Oslo.
• Bakken, Silje Anderdal & Bosnes, Hanne (2015). Narkotikamarkeder på det mørke nettet: En kvalitativ studie av Silk Road 2.0. Statens institutt for rusmiddelforskning. ISSN 978-82-7171-436-9.

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