Abstract
The chapter is divided into two main parts, following the data analysis scheme adopted in the research presented in the book. First, a ‘vertical analysis’ has been conducted, i.e. by social media (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) and by therapeutic category – i.e. medicines for erectile dysfunctions, medicines to lose weight, medicines to enhance muscles, medicines to kill pain, psychoactive medicines (psychopharmaceuticals), medicines to sleep, antibiotics, medicines to quit smoking, and others. This systematically shows (with reference to the qualitative themes used as indicators in the evaluation) the current role of a specific social media in the illegal online trade of a certain medicinal category. After that, a horizontal analysis has been conducted in which the same indicators have been used to compare the situation before and after the implementation of the SCP measures. This assesses the overall impact of those interventions and highlights possible differences among social media and therapeutic category.
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Notes
- 1.
The indicator ‘types of ITMs advertised and sold in social media’ has not been used in the vertical analysis since results are divided by therapeutic category. The summary of the results is not present when very few or no results have been retrieved.
- 2.
It must be noted that some ITMs advertisements seems to target specific ethnical groups within some western countries. This is the case, for instance, of some illegal promotions of pharmaceuticals in Turkish that promoted shipments in Germany.
- 3.
Details displayed by the offenders are often constituted of telephone numbers to be contacted via online messaging systems that are rarely controllable by the law enforcement, such as WhatsApp, Viber, Talk, and Telegram. This scheme has been recently observed by the criminological literature on other types of illegal advertisements on social media platforms, such as in the case of the promotion of illegal transportation services by migrant smugglers (Di Nicola, Baratto, & Martini, 2017; Di Nicola, Martini, & Baratto, 2019).
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Baratto, G. (2020). Evaluation Results. In: The Illegal Trade of Medicines on Social Media. SpringerBriefs in Criminology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57582-3_5
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