All posts tagged: TikTokers

TikTokers filmed antisemitic social media videos ‘to spread hatred’ | UK | News

TikTokers filmed antisemitic social media videos ‘to spread hatred’ | UK | News

Published by Sam Flores

Two men have been convicted of religiously aggravated public order offence over allegations they travelled to a predominantly Jewish area to film antisemitic social media videos for TikTok. The Metropolitan Police said officers were called to reports of a hate crime involving a group of men allegedly harassing members of the Jewish community on Clapton Common in north London on Thursday at around 9pm. The force said officers arrested five men following the incident in Hackney. The CPS said Adam Bedoui, 20, and Abdelkader Amir Bousloub, 21, were due to appear at Thames Magistrates’ Court on Saturday over allegations they approached, harassed and filmed Jewish people in Stamford Hill. Bedoui and Bousloub, both of West Drayton, Hillingdon, west London, pleaded guilty to a religiously aggravated public order offence today, May 9, at Thames Magistrates’ Court. Police were called to the incident at around 9pm on Thursday, 7 May. Both suspects attempted to flee but were arrested at the scene. Detective Superintendent Oliver Richter, who leads policing in Hackney and Tower Hamlets, said: “This was a …

A TikToker’s Scientology “Run” Inspired a Trend. He Says It’s Too Far

A TikToker’s Scientology “Run” Inspired a Trend. He Says It’s Too Far

Published by Daniella Wilson

On March 31, an 18-year-old content creator who goes by the TikTok handle Swhileyy — pronounced “Swiley” — jogged through the lobby of a Church of Scientology building in Hollywood, laughing as a staffer told him to leave. He made it down a hallway, down a flight of stairs, ducked under a woman’s arm and pushed through an exit. The whole bit lasted under a minute. The clip exploded. Swhileyy says the video has pulled roughly 90 million views to his own accounts over the past month; folded in with reactions and reposts, he estimates the total is “in the hundreds of millions.” A little under a month later, the Scientology “run,” known more generally among the creator community as “deep runs,” has hardened into a format — and, he says, into something he no longer recognizes. The trend is currently being investigated by LAPD. “I do not condone what I did, even though I didn’t break any laws,” Swhileyy tells The Hollywood Reporter. “All I did was explore the building. I was never asked …

The TikTokers Reading the Epstein Files So You Don’t Have To

The TikTokers Reading the Epstein Files So You Don’t Have To

Published by Sam Flores

“I’m Reading All of the Epstein Files,” Kayla, a 21-year-old realtor and hairstylist from central Texas, wrote in the onscreen text of a TikTok posted last month. “I’m not using the search function,” she continued in the video’s caption. “I’m going to go through every single file until I’ve seen them all.” Jeffrey Epstein had been dominating her feed, so while sitting out on her back porch in central Texas she decided to weigh in. Immediately, it got tens of thousands of views. Kayla, who asked to be referred to by her first name only for privacy reasons, had been relentlessly consuming information about Epstein. Content creators like her are amassing thousands of followers by covering every disturbing detail in the documents. Experienced public defender and former Survivor contestant Eliza Orlins posted that she has dug into tens of thousands of pages of the files, breaking down Epstein’s links to Elon Musk and Donald Trump, while true crime creators like JustInTheNickOfCrime, who has 1.8 million followers on TikTok, have been pulling apart details like which …

TikTokers came to Springfield looking for ICE. Then the child trafficking rumors began.

TikTokers came to Springfield looking for ICE. Then the child trafficking rumors began.

Published by Sam Flores

This story was originally reported by Amanda Becker of The 19th. Meet Amanda and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy. The residents of Springfield, Ohio, had prepared for the arrival of immigration agents on February 3, the expiration date set by the Trump administration for Temporary Protected Status for Haitians, who account for nearly a quarter of the city’s population. A federal judge intervened at the last minute, pushing the deadline indefinitely. The agents never arrived. Still, the city has found itself on edge this month and the threat is as unsettling as it is familiar: online misinformation, this time accusing the very people trying to protect their immigrant neighbors from deportation of trafficking their children instead. Ahead of the 2024 elections, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, then Republican running mates, amplified a rumor initially shared in a local Facebook group that Haitian immigrants were eating area pets. Last Wednesday, TikTok creators, finding none of the mayhem they expected to see in Springfield, started suggesting that faith-based groups …