As social media networks continue to attract more users and as we get increasingly addicted to them, a new phenomenon is emerging: new underground movements that are changing cities and raising concerns.
While most people are busy documenting every detail of their lives, some are heading in the opposite direction. In the streets of Tel Aviv, New York, and Berlin, secret communities have been sprouting in recent years – groups of activists and change-seekers who prefer to operate under the radar.
This quiet phenomenon has surprised researchers. Alongside the excitement, it also raises troubling questions about freedom, dangerous extremism, and a lack of boundaries.
A study published in 2023 in the Urban Studies Journal reported a nearly 20% rise in the number of secret communities in major cities over the past decade.
The reasons? Fatigue from overexposure and an increasing need for privacy, which sometimes go hand-in-hand with illegal or even criminal activity. The attempt to find belonging outside of social media is at times a means to create groundbreaking, covert art by creators who have no interest in being exposed.
A 2022 article in The Guardian described how urban artists produce underground performances in abandoned buildings, inviting only a small audience through secret codes.
One of the most striking testimonies comes from Julian P., a member of an underground art collective in New York.
In a June 2023 interview with Weird magazine, he said: “We gave up on the desire to be seen. We create only for ourselves. There are no limits, no rules, and that’s both thrilling and dangerous. It requires complete trust.”
He said the group meets in a different location each time – parking garages, basements, abandoned rooftops. “There’s a secret code, a very small circle. If you’re invited, you’re family.”
These secret communities are not limited to the world of culture. A 2023 article in The New York Times revealed that urban activist groups also choose to operate in secrecy, to bypass bureaucracy and lead efforts for social change.
“We prefer to work without ads, without slogans. Just real work on the ground,” one founder of such a group in New York said.
ALONGSIDE THE romantic image of a “secret community,” there are also darker aspects.
According to a 2022 RAND Corporation report on radicalization in small communities, these groups can lead to ideological extremism, especially when there is no external oversight.
In extreme cases, secret groups have become hubs of criminal activity. A 2022 FBI report revealed a network in New York that operated as a “cultural center” but was actually a front for illegal trafficking. Pedophile rings operate under the radar, and the only way to join them is by invitation – “a friend brings a friend.”
Police forces around the world are trying to combat these groups and sometimes succeed in planting undercover officers. But their success has been limited, and many groups continue to promote criminal activity unimpeded.
This raises the question: Why do people keep joining these communities, even when the risk is so clear?
Dr. Martha Kilpatrick of Columbia University explained in a 2023 BBC report: “In an era of overexposure, people are seeking spaces where they can feel safe, connected, and form genuine relationships.”
Dr. Erez Gonen of Tel Aviv University added: “The secret community responds to a deep psychological need – to be part of something that’s ‘just ours.’”
Secret communities reflect the spirit of the times. They aim to offer true freedom, a place to escape the cynicism of the modern world. But it is precisely in that absolute freedom that the danger lies – loss of boundaries, oversight, and at times, values.
Whether they serve as incubators for creativity or potential minefields, these communities are not disappearing from the urban landscape. On the contrary. In an age where everything is visible, secrecy becomes the most valuable resource. These networks will continue to exist.
AT THE SAME time, another network operates – hidden, encrypted, and almost untraceable: the dark web. While millions browse social media and news sites daily, a very different world exists beneath the surface. It doesn’t appear in search results and requires special tools to access.
Dark web usage is not uniform
The use of the dark web is not uniform and not limited to one segment of the population.
On one side are journalists, whistleblowers, and political activists in totalitarian regimes seeking ways to transmit information without being exposed. For them, the dark web is a vital tool to ensure privacy and security.
On the other side are criminal entities: drug dealers, hackers, child pornography distributors, and terrorist networks. For them, the anonymity the dark web offers enables illegal trade, the transfer of crypto funds, and the execution of crimes without revealing their identities.
One of the most well-known examples of criminal activity on the dark web was the Silk Road platform, an online drug market that operated between 2011-2013. The site, run by Ross Ulbricht, offered drugs, weapons, hacking services, and more, using Bitcoin as an anonymous form of payment.
The FBI shut the site down, but since then, dozens of similar drug and weapons markets have emerged – hidden marketplaces offering every type of drug, from prescription medications to dangerous substances.
Hiring hackers for cyberattacks, data theft, or infiltration of corporate networks has become a dangerous tool for international crime syndicates, especially those operating from countries with weak oversight and corrupt regimes.
Leak platforms like SecureDrop allow government and corporate employees to leak information anonymously.
Law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, Europol and Israeli bodies, are in a constant race against criminal elements on the dark web. They employ advanced technological tools, undercover agents, and online surveillance to pierce the veil of anonymity. Yet, every time one marketplace is shut down, others take its place.
Despite its dark image, the dark web is not entirely criminal. For journalists in countries like China, Russia, and Iran, it is a lifeline that allows them to publish the truth without being exposed. Human rights organizations use the platform to circumvent government censorship and spread life-saving information.
The dark web is a free – and sometimes dangerous – space where the worlds of the fight for freedom of speech meet those of crime and digital anarchy. In today’s reality, there may not be one “right” way to look at it. Like any powerful tool, the real question is how it is used.
The writer is the CEO of Radios 100FM, an honorary consul general, deputy dean of the Consular Diplomatic Corps, president of the Israeli Radio Communication Society, and a former television correspondent for NBC.