TikTok live streams - vigilantism and entrapment
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Hi SoTired,
I'm not sure what your post said but I did notice someone was livestreaming old "stings" a while ago on TikTok. They had no affiliation with vigilantes, they were just filming them off the internet and raking in gifts (which can be withdrawn as money) from viewers who weren't aware it wasn't live.
I've just written a paper on vigilantes and there is so much out there which absolutely disagrees with the actions of vigilantes, I don't think I came across a single journal article which was in favour of them. They're actually a danger to society.
Since my knock I've spent thousands of hours online and seen every "sting" there is. What I have noticed in the last few weeks is there is much competition between vigilante groups and some of them have major beef with each other. There were also a couple of guys on a certain streaming platform who were sharing all of the videos and they and their children were threatened to remove them. Lots of the material which was online has been removed and Youtube seemingly have really clamped down on it which is a good thing.
In relation to entrapment, there are definitely cases which charges are not brought due to entrapment or abuse of process as it is known in the courts. The cases in which they will be dismissed is when the vigilantes ask leading questions or say things which make the following events questionable as to whether it would've occurred without it, for example - if a vigilante was to pop up to someone and say I'm 14 and I'm looking to meet up with an older man, this could possibly be entrapment because it was leading someone to commit a crime they wouldn't have done. Especially as arranging to meet only requires something as casual as "yeah we could meet" but actually have no intention to.
I also found some interesting information from an American study saying that real children don't tend to agree to a meet straight away, it usually takes a few conversations for them to agree, which I think more research needs to be done on. I've said before that the legitimacy of the conversations between some of these decoys don't appear to be in line with what a real child would say which is why I think some people end up where they do because they know they're not really talking to a minor - not all but some.
Unfortunately, as much as the police and courts say that they don't agree with the actions of vigilantes, they do seem to side with them in prosecutions.
I'm not sure what your post said but I did notice someone was livestreaming old "stings" a while ago on TikTok. They had no affiliation with vigilantes, they were just filming them off the internet and raking in gifts (which can be withdrawn as money) from viewers who weren't aware it wasn't live.
I've just written a paper on vigilantes and there is so much out there which absolutely disagrees with the actions of vigilantes, I don't think I came across a single journal article which was in favour of them. They're actually a danger to society.
Since my knock I've spent thousands of hours online and seen every "sting" there is. What I have noticed in the last few weeks is there is much competition between vigilante groups and some of them have major beef with each other. There were also a couple of guys on a certain streaming platform who were sharing all of the videos and they and their children were threatened to remove them. Lots of the material which was online has been removed and Youtube seemingly have really clamped down on it which is a good thing.
In relation to entrapment, there are definitely cases which charges are not brought due to entrapment or abuse of process as it is known in the courts. The cases in which they will be dismissed is when the vigilantes ask leading questions or say things which make the following events questionable as to whether it would've occurred without it, for example - if a vigilante was to pop up to someone and say I'm 14 and I'm looking to meet up with an older man, this could possibly be entrapment because it was leading someone to commit a crime they wouldn't have done. Especially as arranging to meet only requires something as casual as "yeah we could meet" but actually have no intention to.
I also found some interesting information from an American study saying that real children don't tend to agree to a meet straight away, it usually takes a few conversations for them to agree, which I think more research needs to be done on. I've said before that the legitimacy of the conversations between some of these decoys don't appear to be in line with what a real child would say which is why I think some people end up where they do because they know they're not really talking to a minor - not all but some.
Unfortunately, as much as the police and courts say that they don't agree with the actions of vigilantes, they do seem to side with them in prosecutions.
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Post deleted by user
Tiktok and FB video pages run off algorithms, this is why you are getting more vigilante type videos suggested to you.
I have the same issue ATM. A sting video would crop up rarely and I ignored. But recently I have watched quite a few I guess out of morbid curiosity....and now my algorithm thinks these are videos I want to watch - it's a horrible cycle.
I had a general idea of what these types of videos in included but I realize now that they are more for cruel entertainment rather than 'record to the police just in case of an assult'- their go to excuse.
Common themes I have found is that they don't not explain they are just members of the public and have no authority (I have seen one video where an elderly man let them into his house and he introduced the vigilantes to his wife as the police ...they corrected him but goes to show not everyone is aware of such groups existing. And in the moment of being 'caught' not likely to take in what is happening). Then there is the fact they will record for a long period of time (most seem to be an hour). Because these groups are doing it to get the views, and they are on a power trip, or themselves would be bored waiting around for the police to turn up- they 'fill' this time going over the 'evidence' and degrade those they are filming.
Live streams are the worst, I have seen one where only after 20 mins did they say they were love streaming with thousands watching - what if the group got it wrong? They have in some cases been wrong but once a bid is out it is near impossible to remove or amend the damage.
You could try to report such videos (but I doubt FB or tik tok would do anything). A month ago I had an issue of 'soft porn ' kept cropping up with links to sites I believed would lead to adult content - FB kept saying they did t breach their terms!
The only way really to have vids not shown to you is to select on FB the options to see 'less' of such content. Tik tok I'm not sure, I would say skip these videos as soon as you can and hopefully the algorithm will get the message.
I have the same issue ATM. A sting video would crop up rarely and I ignored. But recently I have watched quite a few I guess out of morbid curiosity....and now my algorithm thinks these are videos I want to watch - it's a horrible cycle.
I had a general idea of what these types of videos in included but I realize now that they are more for cruel entertainment rather than 'record to the police just in case of an assult'- their go to excuse.
Common themes I have found is that they don't not explain they are just members of the public and have no authority (I have seen one video where an elderly man let them into his house and he introduced the vigilantes to his wife as the police ...they corrected him but goes to show not everyone is aware of such groups existing. And in the moment of being 'caught' not likely to take in what is happening). Then there is the fact they will record for a long period of time (most seem to be an hour). Because these groups are doing it to get the views, and they are on a power trip, or themselves would be bored waiting around for the police to turn up- they 'fill' this time going over the 'evidence' and degrade those they are filming.
Live streams are the worst, I have seen one where only after 20 mins did they say they were love streaming with thousands watching - what if the group got it wrong? They have in some cases been wrong but once a bid is out it is near impossible to remove or amend the damage.
You could try to report such videos (but I doubt FB or tik tok would do anything). A month ago I had an issue of 'soft porn ' kept cropping up with links to sites I believed would lead to adult content - FB kept saying they did t breach their terms!
The only way really to have vids not shown to you is to select on FB the options to see 'less' of such content. Tik tok I'm not sure, I would say skip these videos as soon as you can and hopefully the algorithm will get the message.
There's a lot of misinformation on social media, I've seen lots of people make claims about people that there's possibly no truth in, unfortunately our society like to believe whatever it is without questioning it. Lots of people on TikTok want to get a big following so it's not surprising some people are taking to vigilantism on there.
I do believe that a lot of these stings should be seen as entrapment. The basis of entrapment is quite confusing because even in cases where the decoy approaches the individual, it is not seen as entrapment because they were merely presented with an opportunity to commit a crime. It's only when decoys are making leading statements can it be considered entrapment, I saw this in a case where a decoy was talking about being sexually active. R v Loosely is the precedent case for entrapment cases if you want to look further into it but my issue is there is a huge difference between the police and vigilantes and vigilantes should not be afforded the attention.
I think everyone is too scared to question these things because of the backlash in society.
I do believe that a lot of these stings should be seen as entrapment. The basis of entrapment is quite confusing because even in cases where the decoy approaches the individual, it is not seen as entrapment because they were merely presented with an opportunity to commit a crime. It's only when decoys are making leading statements can it be considered entrapment, I saw this in a case where a decoy was talking about being sexually active. R v Loosely is the precedent case for entrapment cases if you want to look further into it but my issue is there is a huge difference between the police and vigilantes and vigilantes should not be afforded the attention.
I think everyone is too scared to question these things because of the backlash in society.
I understand your point baffled about the vigilantes but I think this does stand for the police also, police are not robust with thier investigations, when they knock on the door they should have them banged to rights no wiggle room but they don't because thier work is poor! The investigations are poor and the effort of the prosicution is poor (didn't turn up 4 times).
But... there is no way the system can really be questioned because no one will admit the system is broken as the uk justice system would fall apart and well we would defo be left with a mess!
But... there is no way the system can really be questioned because no one will admit the system is broken as the uk justice system would fall apart and well we would defo be left with a mess!
Summer I could not agree more. I would never have believed the utter shambles until I saw it for myself. I also don't understand how their placement on certain platforms doesn't amount to abuse of process either. I struggle to believe that there are actual minors trawling these places and communicating in the manner that some of these police decoys are but that's only my opinion, it's all very stretched between what is potential and what is completely farfetched.
I hope you're doing okay xx
I hope you're doing okay xx
Hi I personally hate vigilantes especially those that are entrapping people via adult sites, these people are not actively looking for minors and most who do get entrapped genuinely believe that the person whom they are talking to are not really minors and therefore (this is where it gets stupid on the offenders part) play games with them to try and catch them out.......a bit like finding a catfish and calling them out on it. Family's are ripped apart because of stupid actions. Family's suffer because of the vigilantes putting it all over social media, there is no escaping it.
fine you want to catch predators stick to kids sites, and report it directly to police no need to be online at all, they only do it for an ego boost not to protect kids. My kids are going through hell because of these vigilantes and not once have they bothered to enquire as to actual real kids are doing. It's sickening
fine you want to catch predators stick to kids sites, and report it directly to police no need to be online at all, they only do it for an ego boost not to protect kids. My kids are going through hell because of these vigilantes and not once have they bothered to enquire as to actual real kids are doing. It's sickening