Cybercrimeology

It's Just a Meme: The Aesthetics of Cruelty

Episode Summary

How can people share hateful and disturbing content online? Dr. Alessandro Moretti from the University of Copenhagen joins us to discuss his research into the aesthetics of cruelty. We explore how this challenges traditional neutralization theory, the importance of context in online communities and what happens when offensive memes escape into the wider internet.

Episode Notes

Notes:

• Alessandro's journey from studying law to discovering criminology and pursuing a career in research.
• His experience conducting ethnographic research into black-market ticket selling and online deviance.
• Traditional neutralization theory and how individuals justify behaviour they recognise as wrong.
• The development of the aesthetics of cruelty as an extension of existing criminological theory.
• The role of shock, humour and provocation in sharing hateful memes.
• How the target of offensive content can be irrelevant or interchangeable within certain online communities.
• The shared appreciation of shocking material as a basis for social interaction and belonging.
• The importance of context in understanding offensive humour and online behaviour.
• How memes can escape their original communities and reach unintended audiences.
• The increasing accessibility of extreme content on mainstream social media platforms.
• The potential normalization of offensive content through repeated exposure.
• The status associated with receiving platform bans for sharing particularly offensive material.
• The potential exploitation of these communities by individuals promoting extremist ideologies.
• The challenges of automated content moderation and the commercial incentives of social media platforms.
• The discussion of social media restrictions for younger users.

About our Guest

Alessandro Moretti

 https://researchprofiles.ku.dk/en/persons/alessandro-moretti/

Papers or resources mentioned in this episode:

• Moretti, A., & Demant, J. (2026). Neutralization without drift: The aesthetics of cruelty in hateful meme sharing. The British Journal of Criminology. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azaf092
• Hayward, K., Moretti, A., Mizrahi-Werner, J., & Demant, J. (2026). “That is just fucked up, I think I’ll be leaving now”: Coded language, hateful humor, and plausible deniability in dark memes on Facebook. Deviant Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2026.2688360
• Demant, J. J., & Moretti, A. (2024). Intrusiveness and the public-private divide in netnography: A situated, structured approach for ethical research in the context of closed, group-based, or hidden social media behavior. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 23. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069241257937
• Sykes, G. M., & Matza, D. (1957). Techniques of neutralization: A theory of delinquency. American Sociological Review, 22(6), 664–670. https://doi.org/10.2307/2089195

Other

• Moretti, A. (2023). The rise and rise of illegal ticket touting: An ethnography of deviant entrepreneurship. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003168553
• L'Hoiry, X., Moretti, A., & Antonopoulos, G. A. (2024). Identifying sex trafficking in adult services websites: An exploratory study with a British police force. Trends in Organized Crime, 27, 34–55. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12117-021-09414-1