Crumb
c/philadelphia · by athos77@kbin.social · 2y

YouTube Is Monetizing Human Suffering at an Open Air Drug Market

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

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

43 points · 15 comments · view on lemmy.world

15 Comments

athos77@kbin.social · 10 pts · 2y

From the article:

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.

[Article continues, see link above]

vivadanang@lemm.ee · 8 pts · 2y

Purdue Pharma created this. Never forget the Sackler family is responsible for it all. And they got away with billions. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9339402/

edited - derp not pfizer

Shelena@feddit.nl · 7 pts · 2y (2 replies)

Really disgusting behaviour of the people making these videos and of YouTube. I wonder how they can sleep at night.

TheGoldenGod@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 2y (1 reply)

I wonder how they can sleep at night.

They sleep fine on their piles of money from little to no work.

Shelena@feddit.nl · 2 pts · 2y

I guess. Fortunately, most people are better than that.

sagrotan@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 2y

Newsflash: social media is monetizing human suffering. Totally new

retrieval4558@mander.xyz · 5 pts · 2y (4 replies)

Videos like that are disgusting. They always use the same dehumanizing language, calling people "zombies". No empathy at all for people obviously in crisis.

Redrum714@lemm.ee · -6 pts · 2y (3 replies)

I prefer the term “crackheads”

retrieval4558@mander.xyz · 1 pts · 2y (2 replies)

Well that's because you're a myopic dickhead with no empathy

sock@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y (1 reply)

thanks for having some sympathy for people that may not have even chosen to be there.

society is so shitty in how it views people that are clearly struggling with no lifelines.

decriminalize all drugs.

cheese_greater@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y

How does this square with your previous comment on naltrexone? Is this Mr. Dr. Jekyll I got on the line now?

PlasterAnalyst@kbin.social · 0 pts · 2y (3 replies)

But they are drawing more attention to the problem, which is good.

sock@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 2y (2 replies)

theyre using them to generate a stigma and further alienate addicts.

addicts dont wanna be felt sorry for they want help. awareness has never done anything for anyone especially addicts. people see them as scum and have no desire to actually change policy.

PlasterAnalyst@kbin.social · 0 pts · 2y (1 reply)

I mean, yeah, I can't really feel sorry for a drug addict. They did it to themselves. I'm out here raw dogging it sober every day.

sock@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2y

damn itd really suck if u needed surgery and post op pain meds then the doctor decided you dont need pain meds anymore so you need to get something stronger off the street because of debilitating pain.

do you blame them for being addicts too?

"just stop" you may say. withdrawals kill. you cant just stop opiates.