INTERNET INDICTMENT

THE HELP, HARM OF INTERNET SLEUTHS

Internet sleuthing and citizen investigators have become increasingly popular in recent years, mirroring the growth of true crime podcasts and internet series such as Buzzfeed Unsolved. Due to this rise in popularity, new light has been shed on its effect on criminal investigations and the people involved. While many argue that these groups of sleuths are harmless and entertaining, even helpful in some cases, many others argue that it desensitizes people to violence and may force law enforcement to hasten plans or even complicate their investigations more than necessary.

A rise in popularity of various cold cases and crimes on the internet provides a new source of entertainment for the average user. Web sleuthing is when groups of users, who are not trained in investigative methods or skills, observe the details of a case in an attempt to provide more information or evidence to the public or investigators. Popular versions of this are seen with volunteer groups such as the one formed when Malaysian Airlines flight 370 went missing. While many volunteers were helpful in identifying debris in released photographs, some falsely accused the pilot of the flight of committing mass murder-suicide, according to the Guardian.

The case of Gabby Petito made this topic quite popular when a video posted by a woman who spotted Petito gained traction on TikTok and other social media sites. The witness stated she believes her video helped authorities successfully locate Petito’s remains. Other witnesses who have contacted the authorities or posted on social media have provided some crucial information to the case, piecing together a timeline of events in the days leading up to and after the incident. However, some people have made every aspect of Petito’s life and those connected to the case public. One TikTok user, Jessica Dean, criticized others on the app for their insensitivity in a viral video.

“Oh, you haven’t heard of Gabby Petito? Oh my god, girl, you are missing out. This stuff is so good!” said Dean, parodying many creators on the app. “I made a 28-part monetized series on my TikTok all about it, going over every single detail, including her Spotify playlist. I just dig up every inch of this poor girl’s life for my personal entertainment.”

Those familiar with law enforcement have pointed out the pressure such focus puts on the investigators. Jeffrey Lin, Associate Professor of Criminology at the University of Denver, talked about the topic in an interview with RadioEd.

“If you’re an average police officer in Wyoming, you didn’t know you would be a public figure two weeks ago,” Lin said. “You didn’t know that someone in New York would know your name. And so now you’re working with the whole world watching you.”

One of the most notorious cases of internet sleuthing happened soon after the Boston Marathon Bombing. After the tragedy, the Reddit thread “FindBostonBombers” became increasingly popular as people scrambled to locate those responsible for the attack. On the night of April 18, 2013, a Reddit user on the page posted a side-by-side comparison of a leading suspect and a missing student at Brown University, Sunil Tripathi. It took the subreddit mere hours to post a wide variety of hateful comments on a Facebook page dedicated to finding Tripathi. Following a string of Twitter posts, the hacktivist group Anonymous’ news feed, @YourAnonNews, spread the theory to its many followers, seemingly confirming Tripathi as the second suspect behind the attack. Within the span of an hour, Sunil’s sister Sangeeta received 58 phone calls and the family received hundreds of Islamophobic messages, despite not being Muslim. At 5:16 a.m., the FBI announced that Sunil Tripathi was not one of the suspects, but the damage had already been done. The Facebook page dedicated to Sunil was taken down and the Tripathis were left nearly deserted in the search for their missing son.

While internet sleuthing acts as a hobby or source of entertainment for some, it has the potential to harm families or communities and create obstacles in criminal investigations with false or misleading information, ultimately distracting the authorities from finding a missing person or narrowing down a suspect. Story by

Aubrey Matasovsky and Caio Menegardo.