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New trend on Youtube: Getting famous by harassing cops until they do something stupid/illegal.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-insane-new-path-to-youtube-fame-trigger-cops-and-film-it?ref=homeUnbeknownst to the San Antonio cop, he had become the latest unwitting star in a growing YouTube genre called “First Amendment Auditing,” in which self-proclaimed “auditors” test how police will react by filming them in public places or around government buildings. Auditors show up with their cameras at places as mundane as post offices, or as imposing as the entrances to nuclear weapons factories. Once there, they start filming, and wait to see how police react.
...
Over the past few years, First Amendment auditing has also become a cutthroat YouTube industry, with auditors taking increasingly aggressive positions in encounters with police, knowing that if they are to get arrested or grabbed by a cop it will boost their views and build their online profiles. There are dozens of auditors on YouTube. While their videos typically get just tens of thousands of views, big channels or viral videos can net millions.
...
Worse, after another encounter with police and more than eight arrests over his audits, he’s been under house arrest since July pending trial on the charges.
Not every encounter ends up in house confinement. Police sometimes let auditors go with just a few questions. Other times, officers, suspicious that the auditors are involved in terrorism or just mad that they refuse to reveal their names, have arrested the auditors.
...
“There are those auditors who go out there and they don’t care how nice the cop is,” said Nathanial Thomas Plotner, a Los Angeles auditor who goes by the name Nasty Nathanial. “They want that confrontation, so they can get a good video and get those high views.”
Padilla’s videos are filled with the exact kind of insults that gets cops mad and viewers revved up. In the San Antonio strip mall video, for example, he repeatedly taunted each new officer who appeared on the scene. In another video, Padilla berated a police officer with anti-gay slurs, calling him a “faggot.”
...
Auditors also face ruthless competition from other auditors, who see them as rivals for views, fans, and YouTube ad revenue, especially as auditing has become more popular on YouTube. That puts a premium on encounters with police that will really pop. It also sparks some editorially dubious maneuvering. Phil claims some auditors will call police on themselves if an audit isn’t producing a dramatic enough showdown.
...
Over the past few years, First Amendment auditing has also become a cutthroat YouTube industry, with auditors taking increasingly aggressive positions in encounters with police, knowing that if they are to get arrested or grabbed by a cop it will boost their views and build their online profiles. There are dozens of auditors on YouTube. While their videos typically get just tens of thousands of views, big channels or viral videos can net millions.
...
Worse, after another encounter with police and more than eight arrests over his audits, he’s been under house arrest since July pending trial on the charges.
Not every encounter ends up in house confinement. Police sometimes let auditors go with just a few questions. Other times, officers, suspicious that the auditors are involved in terrorism or just mad that they refuse to reveal their names, have arrested the auditors.
...
“There are those auditors who go out there and they don’t care how nice the cop is,” said Nathanial Thomas Plotner, a Los Angeles auditor who goes by the name Nasty Nathanial. “They want that confrontation, so they can get a good video and get those high views.”
Padilla’s videos are filled with the exact kind of insults that gets cops mad and viewers revved up. In the San Antonio strip mall video, for example, he repeatedly taunted each new officer who appeared on the scene. In another video, Padilla berated a police officer with anti-gay slurs, calling him a “faggot.”
...
Auditors also face ruthless competition from other auditors, who see them as rivals for views, fans, and YouTube ad revenue, especially as auditing has become more popular on YouTube. That puts a premium on encounters with police that will really pop. It also sparks some editorially dubious maneuvering. Phil claims some auditors will call police on themselves if an audit isn’t producing a dramatic enough showdown.
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