Men are covertly filming women on nights out, then making money by posting the videos online, a BBC investigation has found.
The videos, often described as "walking tours" or "nightlife content", are published on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram. They focus almost entirely on women in dresses and skirts, many filmed from behind or at low angles, sometimes revealing intimate parts of the body.
Hmm, is this illegal? Upskirting is but this doesn't seem to be that....
We tracked down nearly 50 women who had been filmed and found that many were unaware of what had happened. They expressed feelings of fear and humiliation.
So the exposing of it by the BBC caused this? That makes them an acceessory, surely?
Our team went undercover in the city, filming men as they covertly recorded women on a night out, exposing some of the most prolific operators, linked to 12 accounts. This included a local taxi driver and two men who had travelled from Sweden to film in the UK. Two other men, whose channels claim they are based in Norway and Monaco, were spotted filming but we were not able to confirm their identities.
Because you tried and they told you to fuck off?
It is not a crime to film in public spaces...
Thank you! So why is the BBC focussed on something that isn't a crime? Aren't there real crimes deserving of investigation?
...but a lawyer specialising in image-based abuse said these types of videos fall into a legally "grey area" and could break harassment and voyeurism laws.
Well, yes, no doubt. That's what you pay a lawyer for, after all. To tell you what you want to hear.
A separate BBC investigation last month exposed how male influencers claiming to offer pick-up advice use smart glasses to record conversations with women and then post the footage online. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said in response that the government wouldn't tolerate new technology being used to create more violence and harassment against women and girls.
Because that's the government's prerogative, clearly.
