Edited by Sara Polak and Daniel Trottier

.History, Affect, and Effects of Online Vitriol. “Trolls for Trump', virtual rape, fake news - social media discourse, including forms of virtual and real violence, has become a formidable, yet elusive, political force. What characterizes online vitriol? How do we understand the narratives generated, and also address their real-world - even life-and-death - impact? How can hatred, bullying, and dehumanization on social media platforms be addressed and countered in a post-truth world? This book unpicks discourses, metaphors, media dynamics, and framing on social media, to begin to answer these questions. Written for and by cultural and media studies scholars, journalists, political philosophers, digital communication professionals, activists and advocates, this book makes the connections between theoretical approaches from cultural and media studies and practical challenges and experiences 'from the field', providing insight into a rough media landscape.”

Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2020. 267p.

By The American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA).

Fraudulent advertising is rapidly emerging as a new risk to consumers shopping online, where millions of consumers are exposed to thousands of fraudulent advertisements taking them to thousands of illegitimate e-commerce websites that defraud and/or sell counterfeit products and deceitful services. This report from TRACIT and the American Apparel and Footwear Association investigates and points out that Internet-based platforms for social networking and shopping from home have inherent systemic weaknesses that are exploited by criminals to sell any variety of counterfeit or illegal product with little risk of apprehension. The lack of sufficient policies and procedures to verify an advertiser’s true identity and limited vetting during the onboarding process are identified as the main vulnerabilities that enable fraudulent advertising online.

NY: TRACIT(July 2020) 66p.

By Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade (TRACIT),

In light of the strong and widespread impacts of illicit trade on countries’ economic output and performance, a new report from the Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade (TRACIT) investigates whether a correlation can be established between individual countries’ creditworthiness and their vulnerability to illicit trade. The report compares the credit ratings attributed by S&P Global, Fitch Group and Moody's and the scores attributed by the Global Illicit Trade Environment Index, and finds that countries that are poorly equipped to tackle illicit trade also suffer from poor credit worthiness. Illicit trade has a direct negative impact on the very economic, social, and institutional risk factors that credit rating agencies evaluate to determine countries’ ability to honor their debt. The corruption, crime, human trafficking, money laundering, and environmental degradation connected with illicit trade all combine to weaken a country’s economic, financial and institutional stability that underpin its credit ratings. Correcting the regulatory environment and economic circumstances that enable illicit trade can improve the environment upon which a country’s credit ratings are based. Governments should prioritize and increase efforts to combat illicit trade, and the underlying conditions that facilitate it, because of the severe repercussions it has on society, the economy, and development, and because it is in their own financial interest to do so.

NY: TRACIT 2021. 18p.

Edited by Nicole Westmarland and Geetanjali Gangoli.

“The book gives an overview of the socio-legal and political approaches taken in relation to rape across nine countries worldwide. It is written at a time in which many governments have begun to take rape more seriously than in the past and have started to implement wide-ranging reforms.This is therefore an ideal time to describe what that range of reforms has been, and to assess the degree to which they have been successful.”

Policy Press (2011) 249 pages.

Bringing Tax Money Back into the COFFERS. Edited by Brigitte Unger, Lucia Rossel, And Joras Ferwerda. “This book brings to bear the insights from various researchers, from various disciplines, from various institutions, and from various countries to ‘analyse the impact of the new international regulations on the scope of tax evasion, tax avoidance, and money laundering’, as stated in the Introduction. The chapters in this book represent the fruits of the EU Horizon Project, ‘Combating Fiscal Fraud and Empowering Regulators’ (COFFERS), led by Brigitte Unger...” Oxford University Press (2021) 369p.