Volunteers in Philadelphia’s Kensington say YouTubers and TikTokers are increasingly exploiting drug users as “trauma porn stars.”

The Kensington neighborhood in Philadelphia is one of the most brutally obvious signs of America’s public health crisis. The so-called “open air drug market” in the middle of the country’s sixth most populous city is where hundreds of people use drugs, some of whom are unhoused, usually without being arrested by the police. It is a failure of our health care system, our cities, and our drug enforcement policies on public display.

For some, it’s also a content farm, where they turn other people’s misery into engagement and profit.

As I am writing this, 675 people are watching a YouTube livestream from a channel called USALIVESTREAM of a camera that is panning back and forth over the corner of Kensington Avenue and East Allegheny, where there’s a SEPTA train station that people congregate around. As is normal on YouTube, to the right of the video is a chat where viewers can talk to each other, and pay to post stickers and “super chats,” highlighted messages that cost as much as $500. The revenue generated from this chat is split between YouTube and the YouTube channel owner. YouTube and the channel owner also make money via pre-roll ads viewers have to watch before the video starts. It is a live version of a growing trend, mostly on YouTube and TikTok, where people make videos of people in distress, specifically in Kensington.

The dire situation at Kensington is such that the live feed is always capturing multiple people who are clearly in distress, slumped over while they’re standing, asleep in camping chairs, or using drugs. None appear to be aware they are being filmed and exploited as a form of entertainment.

read more: https://www.404media.co/youtube-is-monetizing-the-suffering-of-an-open-air-drug-market/

  • Waluigis_Talking_Buttplug@lemmy.worldEnglish
    145·
    8 months ago

    None appear to be aware they are being filmed and exploited as a form of entertainment.

    So someone is making money off of these people’s darkest moments and the comments here so fsr just breeze right fucking past that.

    • Meowoem@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      86·
      8 months ago

      Are they though? Presenting this as some excess of capitalism is emotive but in reality they’re likely to be making almost nothing from it. Their motivations might well be to draw attention to a bad situation, they might even donate money to drug addicts for all we know or be one themselves (or possibly drug addiction charities).

      Seems like lazy journalism to write a whole story based on ‘i watched ten minutes of a live stream’ so I’m not willing to make judgements based on it.

    • SCB@lemmy.worldEnglish
      911·
      8 months ago

      These streams are popular so rural people can shit on urban people. That’s really the entire point.

      These rurals also have similar drug abuse in their communities, but it’s hidden from them, and this let’s them pretend cities are hellscape.

      Most conflict in America exists because rurals are poor and ignorant but don’t like being perceived that way.

      • dan1101@lemm.eeEnglish
        16·
        8 months ago

        Or maybe rurals just like living in cleaner quieter more natural places.

        • SCB@lemmy.worldEnglish
          36·
          8 months ago

          Some do, yeah. See when you’re painting with a broad brush and describing people as a bloc, you by your very nature are conceding nuances exist. This is why “Not all men” is so dumb.

          This fact does not change a single word of what I said above.