for the past 21 years old, James has worked for a private security company as a plainclothes officer in high street shops, mainly on London’s Oxford Street. He often films the people he stops, either to show the police or to share with his colleagues. WhatsApp. But since February, she has found a new home for her footage: her Tik Tok account, @london_contentwhich already has almost 100,000 followers.
In its most watched video, viewed more than 25 million times, an alleged shoplifter can be seen removing items from her skirt, set to the soundtrack of “Unholy” by Sam Smith. The caption reads simply, “She got caught.” Other videos are meant to show people pickpocket or suggest that they might be part of a “begging scam.” Now, on his days off, James will walk the streets of London in hopes of catching illegal activities; in other words, more viral material for his TikTok.
“People have commented thanking me, saying it has helped them spot pickpockets on the streets,” he says. “And people love the content.”
While it’s true that @london_content and accounts like it are gaining popularity on TikTok, not everyone enjoys the videos they share. Stefan Bloch, a professor of cultural geography and critical criminology at the University of Arizona, argues that social media content depicting people allegedly committing crimes could worsen neighborhood paranoia and imagined threats, which are often racialized. “We turn to these surveillance technologies to reinforce the stereotypes we already have and validate our fears,” he says. He compares it to other neighborhood watch apps, like Beside and Citizenthat equally capture and reflect the prejudices of the communities.
“The only positive effect these videos could have is to hold more powerful people accountable,” Bloch adds. This includes abuses of state power, such as police brutality. But as Bloch argues, filming people who are already marginalized without their consent is much harder to justify.
James doesn’t see it this way. He asked WIRED not to share his identity because he’s not allowed to post these videos of his work, but he doesn’t think the subjects of his videos should have the same anonymity. For him, the question of whether he should film people and potentially implicate innocent people is not a factor. “I show his face to warn people and make them aware,” he says.
James isn’t the only vigilante posting this type of content on TikTok. Videos of alleged insignificant crimes are proliferating in the application; many of them can be found under the hashtag “shoplifter”, which has 863.2 billion views, and “robbery”, which has 1.5 billion views. And now there are dozens of anonymous accounts dedicated to sharing this type of content, including @shoplifterhero, @stolenwatchgroupand @gasstationthieves0. While the people who upload this content often claim, like James, that they are seeking justice or raising awareness, their videos, which often feature trendy sounds on the app, are a controversial form of entertainment.
When asked about its policy towards videos showing people allegedly committing crime, Anna Sopel, TikTok’s UK spokesperson for policy and safety, said: “Our Community Principles They are clear that we do not allow content that depicts or encourages criminal activity, including theft, on TikTok. We allow content that clearly condemns illegal activity, however we do not tolerate our community members being harassed, and abusive content will be removed from our platform.”