https://darknet-blog.netlify.app/post/overall-impact-covid

1<!DOCTYPE html><html class="bg-primaryBlack"><head>

1<script src="https://identity.netlify.com/v1/netlify-identity-widget.js"></script>

1<script src="https://cdn.plot.ly/plotly-latest.min.js"></script>

1<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=DM+Sans:wght@400;700&amp;family=Domine:wght@400;700&amp;display=swap" rel="stylesheet"/>

1<script async="" src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=

1G-WMD47C7Q4F

1"></script>

1<script>
2              

2window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
3              function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
4              gtag('js', new Date());
5
6              gtag('config', '

6G-WMD47C7Q4F

6');

6</script>

6<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width"/><meta charSet="utf-8"/>
7<!-- This site is hosted on Netlify. Anyone can build and deploy a site
8     like this one for free: https://netlify.new/?utm_campaign=loops&utm_source=ai-legible&utm_medium=owned&utm_content=comment&utm_id=768f47af-f04b-496b-83c4-80fbf9182b79
9     Netlify hosting facts for this site: static/SSR served via Netlify Edge. --><title>Overall impact of COVID-19 on DWMs</title><meta property="og:title" content="Overall impact of COVID-19 on DWMs"/><meta property="og:description" content="We present how COVID-19 has impacted the overall evolution of listings on dark
10markets. We selected all listings mentioning COVID-19 between January 2020 and
11July 2021, finding a total of 10,330 unique listings. We label listings
12depending on the con..."/><meta property="og:image" content="https://darkmarkets.live/img/topic_modeling.png"/><meta name="twitter:card" content="summary"/><meta name="twitter:title" content="Overall impact of COVID-19 on DWMs"/><meta name="twitter:description" content="We present how COVID-19 has impacted the overall evolution of listings on dark
13markets. We selected all listings mentioning COVID-19 between January 2020 and
14July 2021, finding a total of 10,330 unique listings. We label listings
15depending on the con..."/><meta name="twitter:image" content="https://darkmarkets.live/img/topic_modeling.png"/><meta name="next-head-count" content="10"/><link rel="preload" href="/_next/static/css/dafebee2b3444fb54dc4.css" as="style"/><link rel="stylesheet" href="/_next/static/css/dafebee2b3444fb54dc4.css"/><link rel="preload" href="/_next/static/chunks/main-09a35a1efccce928cb9e.js" as="script"/><link rel="preload" href="/_next/static/chunks/webpack-ccf5ab034a524403276a.js" as="script"/><link rel="preload" href="/_next/static/chunks/framework.5e03480598ad1120f007.js" as="script"/><link rel="preload" href="/_next/static/chunks/commons.dee2ffe8ab5f8852fbb0.js" as="script"/><link rel="preload" href="/_next/static/chunks/pages/_app-6517744e1354d85bdcb1.js" as="script"/><link rel="preload" href="/_next/static/chunks/46e20936d2a7f61c61ee7e89e071aa01041c8f55.e22a57bd5818bceb3b34.js" as="script"/><link rel="preload" href="/_next/static/chunks/pages/post/%5Bslug%5D-1756c8492a1c4d664a91.js" as="script"/></head><body><div id="__next"><div class="relative min-h-screen text-primaryWhite"><nav class="flex items-center justify-between flex-wrap p-4 lg:p-6"><div class="flex items-center flex-shrink-0"><div class="nav-title cursor-pointer"><p class="font-bold title">COVID-19 &amp; DARKNET MARKETS</p></div></div><div class="block lg:hidden"><button class="flex items-center px-3 py-2 border rounded border-secondaryWhite hover:text-secondaryWhite hover:border-secondaryWhite"><svg class="fill-current h-3 w-3" viewBox="0 0 20 20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><title>Menu</title><path d="M0 3h20v2H0V3zm0 6h20v2H0V9zm0 6h20v2H0v-2z"></path></svg></button></div><div class="hidden w-full block flex-grow lg:flex lg:items-center lg:w-auto"><div class="lg:flex lg:justify-end justify-end text-sm lg:flex-grow"><p class="text-right block mt-4 lg:inline-block lg:mt-0 hover:text-secondaryWhite mr-4 cursor-pointer"><span>Home</span></p><p class="text-right block mt-4 lg:inline-block lg:mt-0 hover:text-secondaryWhite mr-4 cursor-pointer"><span>About</span></p><p class="text-right block mt-4 lg:inline-block lg:mt-0 hover:text-secondaryWhite mr-4 cursor-pointer"><span>Publications</span></p><p class="text-right block mt-4 lg:inline-block lg:mt-0 hover:text-secondaryWhite mr-4 cursor-pointer"><span>Press</span></p></div></div></nav><div class="bg-secondaryBlack"><div class="lg:p-4"><div style="max-width:1100px;margin:0 auto"><div class="py-4"><h1 class="title-large mx-4 lg:mx-8 mb-4">Overall impact of COVID-19 on DWMs</h1><div class="flex flex-col md:flex-row px-4"><div class="prose md:w-5/6 md:pr-12"><p><img src="/img/topic_modeling.png" alt="" /></p>
16<p>We present how COVID-19 has impacted the overall evolution of listings on dark markets. We selected all listings mentioning COVID-19 between January 2020 and July 2021, finding a total of 10,330 unique listings. We label listings depending on the content of their title, see panel (a), finding that most of the listings mentioning COVID-19 were drugs. As a consequence, other traditional DWMs products, like fake IDs, firearms, and credit cards were not impacted by COVID-19.</p>
17<p>We delve into the temporal dynamics of drugs mentioning COVID-19. We select 4 large categories of drugs and show an overall increasing trend for the number of active listings throughout the whole period, see panel (b). In contrast, we analyse mentions of three different themes: Lockdown, Sale, and Delays. They can be used as general proxies of the indirect impact of restriction measures implemented during pandemic. By looking at the percentage of listings mentioning these three themes over time we see an overall decreasing trend, see panel (c). A finding coherent with the steady ease of restrictions.</p>
18<p>COVID-19 has impacted a large number of listings on DWMs: <a href="https://darkmarkets.live/post/sharp-increase-vaccine-listings-on-dark-market">vaccines</a>, <a href="https://darkmarkets.live/post/medicines-shadow-economy">medicines</a>, <a href="https://darkmarkets.live/post/ppe-shadow-economy">PPEs</a>, and drugs. Our analyses unveil that dark markets posit a constant threats to the regular economy and calls for their constant and accurate monitoring.</p>
19<h4>How to cite:</h4>
20<p>Want to cite and/or use the information provided in this page? It is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 - please cite our ongoing monitoring effort as follows:</p>
21<p><em>A. Bracci(+), M. Nadini(+), M. Aliapoulios, D. McCoy, I. Gray, A. Teytelboym, A. Gallo, A. Baronchelli. Dark Web Marketplaces and COVID-19: The vaccines. <strong><a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2102.05470">Preprint arXiv:2102.05470 (2021)</a></strong></em></p>
22<p><em>A. Bracci, M. Nadini, M. Aliapoulios, D. McCoy, I. Gray, A. Teytelboym, A. Gallo, A. Baronchelli. Dark Web Marketplaces and COVID-19: before the vaccine. <strong><a href="https://epjdatascience.springeropen.com/articles/10.1140/epjds/s13688-021-00259-w">EPJ Data Science 10.1 (2021): 1-26</a></strong></em></p>
23<p>(+) These authors contributed equally</p>
24</div><div><p>Mon Aug 02 2021</p><p class="mb-12"></p><p class="text-secondaryWhite">#<!-- -->COVID-19</p><p class="text-secondaryWhite">#<!-- -->further_research</p><p class="text-secondaryWhite">#<!-- -->listings</p><p class="mt-12">Share article</p><div><button title="Overall impact of COVID-19 on DWMs" aria-label="facebook" class="react-share__ShareButton m-1" style="background-color:transparent;border:none;padding:0;font:inherit;color:inherit;cursor:pointer"><svg viewBox="0 0 64 64" width="32" height="32"><circle cx="32" cy="32" r="31" fill="#3b5998" style="fill:#E0E0E0"></circle><path d="M34.1,47V33.3h4.6l0.7-5.3h-5.3v-3.4c0-1.5,0.4-2.6,2.6-2.6l2.8,0v-4.8c-0.5-0.1-2.2-0.2-4.1-0.2 c-4.1,0-6.9,2.5-6.9,7V28H24v5.3h4.6V47H34.1z" fill="#0C0C0D"></path></svg></button><button aria-label="linkedin" class="react-share__ShareButton m-1" style="background-color:transparent;border:none;padding:0;font:inherit;color:inherit;cursor:pointer"><svg viewBox="0 0 64 64" width="32" height="32"><circle cx="32" cy="32" r="31" fill="#007fb1" style="fill:#E0E0E0"></circle><path d="M20.4,44h5.4V26.6h-5.4V44z M23.1,18c-1.7,0-3.1,1.4-3.1,3.1c0,1.7,1.4,3.1,3.1,3.1 c1.7,0,3.1-1.4,3.1-3.1C26.2,19.4,24.8,18,23.1,18z M39.5,26.2c-2.6,0-4.4,1.4-5.1,2.8h-0.1v-2.4h-5.2V44h5.4v-8.6 c0-2.3,0.4-4.5,3.2-4.5c2.8,0,2.8,2.6,2.8,4.6V44H46v-9.5C46,29.8,45,26.2,39.5,26.2z" fill="#0C0C0D"></path></svg></button><button aria-label="telegram" class="react-share__ShareButton m-1" style="background-color:transparent;border:none;padding:0;font:inherit;color:inherit;cursor:pointer"><svg viewBox="0 0 64 64" width="32" height="32"><circle cx="32" cy="32" r="31" fill="#37aee2" style="fill:#E0E0E0"></circle><path d="m45.90873,15.44335c-0.6901,-0.0281 -1.37668,0.14048 -1.96142,0.41265c-0.84989,0.32661 -8.63939,3.33986 -16.5237,6.39174c-3.9685,1.53296 -7.93349,3.06593 -10.98537,4.24067c-3.05012,1.1765 -5.34694,2.05098 -5.4681,2.09312c-0.80775,0.28096 -1.89996,0.63566 -2.82712,1.72788

24c-0.23354,0.27218 -0.46884,0.62161 -0.58825,1.10275c-0.11941,0.48114 -0.06673,1.09222 0.16682,1.5716c0.46533,0.96052 1.25376,1.35737 2.18443,1.71383c3.09051,0.99037 6.28638,1.93508 8.93263,2.8236c0.97632,3.44171 1.91401,6.89571 2.84116,10.34268c0.30554,0.69185 0.97105,0.94823 1.65764,0.95525l-0.00351,0.03512c0,0 0.53908,0.05268 1.06412,-0.07375c0.52679,-0.12292 1.18879,-0.42846 1.79109,-0.99212c0.662,-0.62161 2.45836,-2.38812 3.47683,-3.38552l7.6736,5.66477l0.06146,0.03512c0,0 0.84989,0.59703 2.09312,0.68132c0.62161,0.04214 1.4399,-0.07726 2.14229,-0.59176c0.70766,-0.51626 1.1765,-1.34683 1.396,-2.29506c0.65673,-2.86224 5.00979,-23.57745 5.75257,-27.00686l-0.02107,0.08077c0.51977,-1.93157 0.32837,-3.70159 -0.87096,-4.74991c-0.60054,-0.52152 -1.2924,-0.7498 -1.98425,-0.77965l0,0.00176zm-0.2072,3.29069c0.04741,0.0439 0.0439,0.0439 0.00351,0.04741c-0.01229,-0.00351 0.14048,0.2072 -0.15804,1.32576l-0.01229,0.04214l-0.00878,0.03863c-0.75858,3.50668 -5.15554,24.40802 -5.74203,26.96472c-0.08077,0.34417 -0.11414,0.31959 -0.09482,0.29852c-0.1756,-0.02634 -0.50045,-0.16506 -0.52679,-0.1756l-13.13468,-9.70175c4.4988,-4.33199 9.09945,-8.25307 13.744,-12.43229c0.8218,-0.41265 0.68483,-1.68573 -0.29852,-1.70681c-1.04305,0.24584 -1.92279,0.99564 -2.8798,1.47502c-5.49971,3.2626 -11.11882,6.13186 -16.55882,9.49279c-2.792,-0.97105 -5.57873,-1.77704 -8.15298,-2.57601c2.2336,-0.89555 4.00889,-1.55579 5.75608,-2.23009c3.05188,-1.1765 7.01687,-2.7042 10.98537,-4.24067c7.94051,-3.06944 15.92667,-6.16346 16.62028,-6.43037l0.05619,-0.02283l0.05268,-0.02283c0.19316,-0.0878 0.30378,-0.09658 0.35471,-0.10009c0,0 -0.01756,-0.05795 -0.00351,-0.04566l-0.00176,0zm-20.91715,22.0638l2.16687,1.60145c-0.93418,0.91311 -1.81743,1.77353 -2.45485,2.38812l0.28798,-3.98957" fill="#0C0C0D"></path></svg></button><button aria-label="twitter" class="react-share__ShareButton m-1" style="background-color:transparent;border:none;padding:0;font:inherit;color:inherit;cursor:pointer"><svg viewBox="0 0 64 64" width="32" height="32"><circle cx="32" cy="32" r="31" fill="#00aced" style="fill:#E0E0E0"></circle><path d="M48,22.1c-1.2,0.5-2.4,0.9-3.8,1c1.4-0.8,2.4-2.1,2.9-3.6c-1.3,0.8-2.7,1.3-4.2,1.6 C41.7,19.8,40,19,38.2,19c-3.6,0-6.6,2.9-6.6,6.6c0,0.5,0.1,1,0.2,1.5c-5.5-0.3-10.3-2.9-13.5-6.9c-0.6,1-0.9,2.1-0.9,3.3 c0,2.3,1.2,4.3,2.9,5.5c-1.1,0-2.1-0.3-3-0.8c0,0,0,0.1,0,0.1c0,3.2,2.3,5.8,5.3,6.4c-0.6,0.1-1.1,0.2-1.7,0.2c-0.4,0-0.8,0-1.2-0.1 c0.8,2.6,3.3,4.5,6.1,4.6c-2.2,1.8-5.1,2.8-8.2,2.8c-0.5,0-1.1,0-1.6-0.1c2.9,1.9,6.4,2.9,10.1,2.9c12.1,0,18.7-10,18.7-18.7 c0-0.3,0-0.6,0-0.8C46,24.5,47.1,23.4,48,22.1z" fill="#0C0C0D"></path></svg></button><button aria-label="whatsapp" class="react-share__ShareButton m-1" style="background-color:transparent;border:none;padding:0;font:inherit;color:inherit;cursor:pointer"><svg viewBox="0 0 64 64" width="32" height="32"><circle cx="32" cy="32" r="31" fill="#25D366" style="fill:#E0E0E0"></circle><path d="m42.32286,33.93287c-0.5178,-0.2589 -3.04726,-1.49644 -3.52105,-1.66732c-0.4712,-0.17346 -0.81554,-0.2589 -1.15987,0.2589c-0.34175,0.51004 -1.33075,1.66474 -1.63108,2.00648c-0.30032,0.33658 -0.60064,0.36247 -1.11327,

240.12945c-0.5178,-0.2589 -2.17994,-0.80259 -4.14759,-2.56312c-1.53269,-1.37217 -2.56312,-3.05503 -2.86603,-3.57283c-0.30033,-0.5178 -0.03366,-0.80259 0.22524,-1.06149c0.23301,-0.23301 0.5178,-0.59547 0.7767,-0.90616c0.25372,-0.31068 0.33657,-0.5178 0.51262,-0.85437c0.17088,-0.36246 0.08544,-0.64725 -0.04402,-0.90615c-0.12945,-0.2589 -1.15987,-2.79613 -1.58964,-3.80584c-0.41424,-1.00971 -0.84142,-0.88027 -1.15987,-0.88027c-0.29773,-0.02588 -0.64208,-0.02588 -0.98382,-0.02588c-0.34693,0 -0.90616,0.12945 -1.37736,0.62136c-0.4712,0.5178 -1.80194,1.76053 -1.80194,4.27186c0,2.51134 1.84596,4.945 2.10227,5.30747c0.2589,0.33657 3.63497,5.51458 8.80262,7.74113c1.23237,0.5178 2.1903,0.82848 2.94111,1.08738c1.23237,0.38836 2.35599,0.33657 3.24402,0.20712c0.99159,-0.15534 3.04985,-1.24272 3.47963,-2.45956c0.44013,-1.21683 0.44013,-2.22654 0.31068,-2.45955c-0.12945,-0.23301 -0.46601,-0.36247 -0.98382,-0.59548m-9.40068,12.84407l-0.02589,0c-3.05503,0 -6.08417,-0.82849 -8.72495,-2.38189l-0.62136,-0.37023l-6.47252,1.68286l1.73463,-6.29129l-0.41424,-0.64725c-1.70875,-2.71846 -2.6149,-5.85116 -2.6149,-9.07706c0,-9.39809 7.68934,-17.06155 17.15993,-17.06155c4.58253,0 8.88029,1.78642 12.11655,5.02268c3.23625,3.21036 5.02267,7.50812 5.02267,12.06476c-0.0078,9.3981 -7.69712,17.06155 -17.14699,17.06155m14.58906,-31.58846c-3.93529,-3.80584 -9.1133,-5.95471 -14.62789,-5.95471c-11.36055,0 -20.60848,9.2065 -20.61625,20.52564c0,3.61684 0.94757,7.14565 2.75211,10.26282l-2.92557,10.63564l10.93337,-2.85309c3.0136,1.63108 6.4052,2.4958 9.85634,2.49839l0.01037,0c11.36574,0 20.61884,-9.2091 20.62403,-20.53082c0,-5.48093 -2.14111,-10.64081 -6.03239,-14.51915" fill="#0C0C0D"></path></svg></button></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div style="height:0px"></div><div class="absolute bottom-0 flex flex-col justify-between w-full p-4 lg:p-6 md:flex-row"><div class="mb-4 lg:mb-0"><a href="/"><span class="header"><b>COVID-19 &amp; DARKNET MARKETS</b></span></a><div><a href="/about">About</a></div><div><a href="/publications">Publications</a></div><div><a href="/press">Press</a></div></div><div class="flex flex-col md:flex-row md:mb-4"><div class="max-w-lg pr-8">The research presented in the website is supported by the &quot;COVID-19: Monitoring the effects of the pandemic on illicit online trade&quot; project funded by the ESRC. Content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) unless otherwise specified in single posts.</div><div class="flex w-64 max-w-full mt-4 lg:mt-0"><img class="self-center w-full" src="/img/ukri_esr_council-logo_horiz-rgb-w-.png" alt=""/></div></div></div></div></div>

24<script id="__NEXT_DATA__" type="application/json">{"props":{"pageProps":{"attributes":{"title":"Overall impact of COVID-19 on DWMs","slug":"overall-impact-covid","date":"2021-08-02T12:04:05.495Z","tags":["COVID-19","further_research","listings"],"thumbnail":"img/topic_modeling.png"},"html":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"/img/topic_modeling.png\" alt=\"\" /\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe present how COVID-19 has impacted the overall evolution of listings on dark markets. We selected all listings mentioning COVID-19 between January 2020 and July 2021, finding a total of 10,330 unique listings. We label listings depending on the content of their title, see panel (a), finding that most of the listings mentioning COVID-19 were drugs. As a consequence, other traditional DWMs products, like fake IDs, firearms, and credit cards were not impacted by COVID-19.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe delve into the temporal dynamics of drugs mentioning COVID-19. We select 4 large categories of drugs and show an overall increasing trend for the number of active listings throughout the whole period, see panel (b). In contrast, we analyse mentions of three different themes: Lockdown, Sale, and Delays. They can be used as general proxies of the indirect impact of restriction measures implemented during pandemic. By looking at the percentage of listings mentioning these three themes over time we see an overall decreasing trend, see panel (c). A finding coherent with the steady ease of restrictions.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCOVID-19 has impacted a large number of listings on DWMs: \u003ca href=\"https://darkmarkets.live/post/sharp-increase-vaccine-listings-on-dark-market\"\u003evaccines\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"https://darkmarkets.live/post/medicines-shadow-economy\"\u003emedicines\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"https://darkmarkets.live/post/ppe-shadow-economy\"\u003ePPEs\u003c/a\u003e, and drugs. Our analyses unveil that dark markets posit a constant threats to the regular economy and calls for their constant and accurate monitoring.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eHow to cite:\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWant to cite and/or use the information provided in this page? It is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 - please cite our ongoing monitoring effort as follows:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eA. Bracci(+), M. Nadini(+), M. Aliapoulios, D. McCoy, I. Gray, A. Teytelboym, A. Gallo, A. Baronchelli. Dark Web Marketplaces and COVID-19: The vaccines. \u003cstrong\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://arxiv.org/abs/2102.05470\"\u003ePreprint arXiv:2102.05470 (2021)\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eA. Bracci, M. Nadini, M. Aliapoulios, D. McCoy, I. Gray, A. Teytelboym, A. Gallo, A. Baronchelli. Dark Web Marketplaces and COVID-19: before the vaccine. \u003cstrong\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://epjdatascience.springeropen.com/articles/10.1140/epjds/s13688-021-00259-w\"\u003eEPJ Data Science 10.1 (2021): 1-26\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e(+) These authors contributed equally\u003c/p\u003e\n","description":"We present how COVID-19 has impacted the overall evolution of listings on dark\nmarkets. We selected all listings mentioning COVID-19 between January 2020 and\nJuly 2021, finding a total of 10,330 unique listings. We label listings\ndepending on the con..."},"__N_SSG":true},"page":"/post/[slug]","query":{"slug":"overall-impact-covid"},"buildId":"qSV5zUFK6V5iRisg4-kso","nextExport":false,"isFallback":false,"gsp":true}</script>

24<script nomodule="" src="/_next/static/chunks/polyfills-5bf59b93ae7857d78ad5.js"></script>

24<script src="/_next/static/chunks/main-09a35a1efccce928cb9e.js" async=""></script>

24<script src="/_next/static/chunks/webpack-ccf5ab034a524403276a.js" async=""></script>

24<script src="/_next/static/chunks/framework.5e03480598ad1120f007.js" async=""></script>

24<script src="/_next/static/chunks/commons.dee2ffe8ab5f8852fbb0.js" async=""></script>

24<script src="/_next/static/chunks/pages/_app-6517744e1354d85bdcb1.js" async=""></script>

24<script src="/_next/static/chunks/46e20936d2a7f61c61ee7e89e071aa01041c8f55.e22a57bd5818bceb3b34.js" async=""></script>

24<script src="/_next/static/chunks/pages/post/%5Bslug%5D-1756c8492a1c4d664a91.js" async=""></script>

24<script src="/_next/static/qSV5zUFK6V5iRisg4-kso/_buildManifest.js" async=""></script>

24<script src="/_next/static/qSV5zUFK6V5iRisg4-kso/_ssgManifest.js" async=""></script>

24</body></html>