What's really behind TikTok's fascination with true crime?
-
Loading... - Morgan Web
- 27 May 2022
- 283 Views
- 0 Like
- 0 Comment
Last week, a video came up on my For You Page on TikTok in which a young woman warned her followers to be wary of a supposed "human trafficking" technique used in Paris.
In a series of videos, the woman described an incident in which she was approached by a woman and a baby, who asked her to buy them milk and nappies. The young woman initially declined, as she had to be somewhere. The woman then asked if she could buy the products for her later, and asked for her phone number to arrange a meeting. The TikTok user agreed to this, but later decided not to buy the woman and her baby the products when she felt uncomfortable by the arrangement.
The TikTok user told her followers that - based on no evidence - she thought the woman, or an affiliated gang was attempting to "traffic" her. The video caption reads: "Beware of these people, they are trained and they can kidnap you".
She went on to share her belief that if she followed the woman to the pharmacy, she would be attacked or kidnapped. She also expressed some unfounded concern that the baby is also a victim of trafficking.
The video has since been deleted, but not before it accumulated over 250,000 likes. In the comments, people reinforced her baseless claims, while others shared negative and hateful remarks about Roma. This abuse was undoubtedly ushered in by the TikTok user, who described the woman that approached her as "bohemian looking".
The narrative at the heart of the video speaks to TikTok's troubling relationship with true crime at large. The app is bursting with creators sharing stories of murder and creepy encounters, and while some may be well researched, others, like the aforementioned, are grounded in conspiracy, systemic racism and moral panic. What the user describes is merely an encounter with a person looking for help, but she frames it instead as a near miss with a human trafficker.
What's more, her account contributes to a larger misunderstanding that surrounds human trafficking. The Taken franchise might have you believe that human traffickers are solely targeting young, wealthy, white women. In reality, human trafficking disproportionally affects refugees and migrant workers, homeless people, ethnic minorities, indigenous people and children in foster care. Read More…
