Affordances, dread, and online fraud: Exploring and advancing social learning theory in online contexts

Abstract We investigate how the affordances of an online context shape the processes of social learning. Using a dataset of more than 11,000 posts from the fraud subdread on the dark web forum Dread, we examine how affordances of platform governance, connectivity, anonymity, invisibility, asynchronicity, and limited oversight influence the components of social learning theory (SLT). We find that the affordances of this context introduce intermediaries who control the accessibility and visibility of possible associations, shape the breadth and other characteristics of these associations, facilitate a novel way to learn definitions, and influence reinforcement by separating offenders from consequences, providing vicarious rewards, and enabling feedback. They also shape imitation by adding ways to assess potential models and to virtually imitate them. Our findings suggest the need to extend SLT in online contexts with the concepts of mediated differential association, the window of associations, vicarious reinforcement, repeated definitional exposure reinforcement, and virtual imitation. We also discuss how our findings inform the applicability of traditional criminological theories to cybercrime, online criminal subcultures, and policies and practices aimed at disrupting online fraud.