The livestreaming of

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

s is a phenomenon in which people live stream criminal acts. Due to the fact publishing to

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

is done with the intent of others viewing the published materials, it is often impossible to protect the privacy of the victims or people involved.

History

In April 2016, Marina Lonina, age 18; and Raymond Gates, age 29, were arrested in

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, US on charges that Gates raped an underage friend of Lonina's while Lonina live streamed the crime on

Periscope A periscope is an instrument for observation over, around or through an object, obstacle or condition that prevents direct line-of-sight observation from an observer's current position. In its simplest form, it consists of an outer case with ...

. The prosecutor pointed out that Lonina, who was taken advantage of by a much older man, had become "caught up" in her excitement over the number of " likes" she was getting, and is shown on screen "laughing and giggling". Joss Wright of the

Oxford Internet Institute The Oxford Internet Institute (OII) is a multi-disciplinary department of social and computer science dedicated to the study of information, communication, and technology, and is part of the Social Sciences Division of the University of Oxford ...

pointed out that, given the "volume of content being created and uploaded every day,

here Here is an adverb that means "in, on, or at this place". It may also refer to: Software * Here Technologies, a mapping company * Here WeGo (formerly Here Maps), a mobile app and map website by Here Technologies, Here Television * Here TV (form ...

is almost no practical way to prevent content like this being uploaded and shared". By May, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' was including the Ohio Periscope rape as one of a series of recent cases in which crimes were live streamed. These included one in which a young woman in

Égly Égly () is a commune in the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France around 30 km (20 miles) south of Paris. Population Inhabitants of Égly are known as ''Aglatiens'' in French. See also *Communes of the Essonne departm ...

, France, speaks via Periscope about her distress and suicidal thoughts and is apparently encouraged by viewers to kill herself, which she does by throwing herself under a train. Also included was the case of two teenagers who live stream themselves bragging and laughing as they beat up a drunken man in a bar in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

, France.

Types

Cybersex trafficking

Cybersex trafficking, also referred to as live streaming sexual abuse, involves sex trafficking and the live streaming of coerced sexual abuse and or

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...

on webcam. Victims are abducted, threatened, or deceived and transferred to "cybersex dens". The dens can be in any location where the cybersex traffickers have a computer, tablet, or phone with

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

connection. Perpetrators use

networks,

videoconference Videotelephony, also known as videoconferencing and video teleconferencing, is the two-way or multipoint reception and transmission of audio signal, audio and video signals by people in different locations for Real-time, real time communication. ...

pornographic Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults,

video sharing websites, dating pages, online

chat room The term chat room, or chatroom (and sometimes group chat; abbreviated as GC), is primarily used to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing. The term can thus mean any technology, ranging from ...

s, apps, dark web sites, and other platforms. They use online payment systems and cryptocurrencies to hide their identities. Millions of reports of its occurrence are sent to authorities annually. New laws and police procedures are needed to combat this type of

cybercrime A cybercrime is a crime that involves a computer or a computer network.Moore, R. (2005) "Cyber crime: Investigating High-Technology Computer Crime," Cleveland, Mississippi: Anderson Publishing. The computer may have been used in committing th ...

Instances

2008

* 8 June: A bystander livestreamed the

Akihabara massacre The was an incident of mass murder that took place on 8June 2008, in the Akihabara shopping quarter in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The perpetrator, 25-year-old of Susono, Shizuoka, drove into a crowd with a rented truck, initially killing three peo ...

Ustream IBM Watson Media (formerly Ustream and IBM Cloud Video) is an American virtual events platform company which is a division of IBM. Prior to IBM acquisition, it had more than 180 employees across San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Budapest offices. ...

, attracting an audience of 2000 viewers. Another user also used Ustream to livestream the massacre's aftermath, including police and public response.

2016

*1 August: Korryn Gaines of

Randallstown, Maryland Randallstown is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. It is named after Christopher and Thomas Randall, two 18th-century tavern-keepers. At that time, Randallstown was a tollgate cro ...

livestreamed her actions on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

and Instagram as she resisted arrest and started an armed standoff with the police, which ended with Gaines being fatally shot and her 5-year old son sustaining injuries to his face and arm after being hit by stray bullets. August 4, 2016.

2017

* 3 January: A torture incident in Chicago, in which an 18-year-old mentally-disabled white male in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, US was filmed being physically and verbally abused by four Black individuals (two men and two women). The torture was live streamed by one of the women on

and sparked massive controversy. * Early January: An American woman taped her toddler to the wall and live streamed it on

Facebook Live Facebook is a social-network service website launched on February 4, 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg. The following is a list of software and technology features that can be found on the Facebook website and mobile app and are available to users of t ...

. * 21 January: In

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Located north of the c ...

, Sweden, two Afghan immigrants and one Swedish citizen live streamed the gang rape of a woman on Facebook. * 24 April: A Thai man killed his infant daughter before committing suicide.

2018

* 26 August: A gunman shot 12 people during a video game tournament, killing two. The shooting was live-streamed by the event's Twitch stream.

2019

* 15 March: Two mass shootings occurred at the Al Noor Mosque and the

Linwood Islamic Centre The Linwood Islamic Centre is a Sunni Islam mosque in Linwood, Christchurch, New Zealand. The mosque opened in early 2018 on the grounds of the former Christchurch Bahai Centre and the building had most recently been the Linwood Community Centr ...

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

, New Zealand, where 51 people were killed and 40 were injured by 28-year-old Brenton Harrison Tarrant. The first attack was live streamed by the shooter on

for 17 minutes, and has been described by New Zealand Prime Minister

Jacinda Ardern Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern ( ; born 26 July 1980) is a New Zealand politician who has been serving as the 40th prime minister of New Zealand and leader of the Labour Party since 2017. A member of the Labour Party, she has been the member of ...

"to be one of the darkest days in New Zealand history". Following the shootings, Facebook announced restrictions on Facebook Live on those who posted violent extremist material. * 22 March: Vlad Christian Eremia, 26, stabbed a 77-year-old

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

, Father Claude Grou in

Saint Joseph's Oratory Saint Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal (french: Oratoire Saint-Joseph du Mont-Royal) is a Roman Catholic minor basilica and national shrine located at 3800 Queen Mary Road in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood on Mount Royal's Westmount Summit in ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada, and was captured on a live stream by

Salt + Light Television Salt + Light Television is a Canadian multi-lingual Category B television channel owned by the not-for-profit Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation and based in Toronto, Ontario. The channel broadcasts faith-based programming for Roman Cath ...

. * 9 October: Stephan Balliet committed a shooting near a synagogue and kebab restaurant in Halle,

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it th ...

, Germany, resulting in two dead and two others injured; the attack was livestreamed on Twitch. * 29 December: Keith Thomas Kinnunen opened fire at the West Freeway Church of Christ in

White Settlement, Texas White Settlement is a city in Tarrant County, Texas, United States, and a northwestern suburb of Fort Worth. The population was 17,851 in 2019. History The city got its name because it was the lone settlement of white colonists amid several Nativ ...

, US fatally shooting two people before he was shot and killed by an armed member of the congregation. The shooting was live streamed on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

because the church live streamed its services.

2020

* 8 February: Thai Army Sergeant Jakrapanth Thomma killed 30 and wounded 57 people in a mass shooting in Thailand. A portion of the shooting at the

Terminal 21 file:Terminal 21 Asok Bangkok 20202021.jpg, Terminal 21 Asok and Grand Centre Point Hotel Terminal 21 ( th, เทอร์มินอล 21) is a chain of Mixed-use development, mixed-use complexes with 4 locations in Thailand; Asok and Rama III ...

Korat mall was live-streamed by the perpetrator on Facebook Live. * 20 May: Armando "Junior" Hernandez, a 20-year-old live streamed his attack at the Westgate Entertainment District in Glendale, Arizona, US where three people were wounded, on Snapchat. * 26 May: A man in Stamford, Connecticut live-streamed himself on Instagram on a highway overpass saying he thought people were following him. He then began to fire on passing vehicles on the road below.

2021

*6 January: Far-right personality Anthime Gionet, better known as "Baked Alaska", took part in the storming of the U.S. Capitol and livestreamed the event on

DLive DLive is an American video live streaming service which was founded in 2017. It was purchased by BitTorrent in 2019. Due to the site's lax enforcement of prohibited content guidelines, DLive has become a popular alternative to YouTube and Twit ...

. *23 March: Ahmad Al Aliwi Al-Issa (or Alissa), age 21, shot and killed 10 people in a mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado, US. A portion of the shooting at a

King Soopers King Soopers is a supermarket brand of Kroger located in the Rocky Mountains of the United States. It started as its own brand and, today, is headquartered in Denver, Colorado. King Soopers has a significant presence in the state of Colorado on ...

supermarket was live-streamed on

by a bystander. *19 August: A 15-year-old student livestreamed himself via

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle co ...

stabbing a faculty member at his secondary school in Eslöv, Sweden. The attacker used a head-mounted camera on a helmet to livestream the attack and wore body armour similar to Brenton Tarrant, who he had quoted in his manifesto. *20 August: 19-year-old Aidan Ingalls shot a man to death and critically injured his wife on the South Haven Pier in South Haven, Michigan. Ingalls then aimed his gunfire towards beach goers, a boat and a jet skier. Ingalls missed all of his shots targeting them, but clipped the jet ski before turning the gun on himself halfway down the pier. The entire shooting lasted around a minute and was captured on WWMT’s camera, which was being live-streamed on youtube. The clip from the stream has since been wiped from the internet.

2022

*15 January: Malik Faisal Akram took multiple people hostage at Congregation Beth Israel, a Jewish synagogue in

Colleyville, Texas Colleyville is a city in northeastern Tarrant County, Texas, United States, centrally located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. A wealthy suburb of the Dallas/Fort Worth area, Colleyville was originally a small farm town in the 19th century. Th ...

, United States. A portion of the hostage-taking was livestreamed on the synagogue's Facebook account. *14 May: Payton S. Gendron killed 10 people and injured 3 others while livestreaming the shooting on Twitch, inside and in the parking lot of the

Tops Friendly Markets Tops Friendly Markets is an American supermarket chain based in Amherst, New York, that operates stores in Upstate New York, Vermont, and Northern Pennsylvania. The chain operates full-scale supermarkets. Tops is a subsidiary of Northeast Groc ...

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

, US. Eleven of the 13 people shot were Black and the 2 others were White. *24 July:

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

-based pastor

Lamor Whitehead Lamor M. Whitehead (born April 30, 1978) is an American bishop and convicted felon, known also for his close relationship with New York City Mayor Eric Adams and his ostentatious displays of wealth. Early life and education Whitehead was b ...

and his wife were robbed of more than $1,000,000 worth of jewelry during a live-streamed church service. *7 September: During a shooting spree in Memphis, Tennessee, Ezekiel Kelly, a 19-year-old male, live-streamed himself on Facebook Live entering an AutoZone store and critically wounding an employee.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Why rising numbers of criminals are using Facebook Live to film their acts
Crime by type Dark web Filmed killings Violence