YouTube Is Monetizing Human Suffering at an Open Air Drug Market
YouTube Is Monetizing Human Suffering at an Open Air Drug Market
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/
Someone making money off this is MAYBE fourth or fifth down the line of issues with the entire situation. It's a slap in the face for humanity that our focus is more about the people filming and hosting it. What a world.
Nothing is ever a problem until there's an accessible way to make money from it.
usually without being arrested by the police
That's the good part, though. Problematic drug use is a health problem and should be treated as such rather than a criminal and moral one.
And that's not even mentioning what often happens when cops interact with members of any marginalized group..
I agree that the use of drugs should be decriminalized, but it should also come with other responsibilities. For example, a government organized intervention and mandatory rehabilitation. Depending on how much money the person has, they should be required to pay for it. Or they should be expected to pay it back over time.
We should have a welfare state. It should also come with responsibilities.
use of drugs should be decriminalized, but it should also come with other responsibilities
Do you want to do that with alcohol and tobacco too, or just the ones that the rich and powerful consider taboo?
For example, a government organized intervention and mandatory rehabilitation.
One size fits all mandates are a recipe for disaster. Depending on the individual case, you end up either violating the patient's right to bodily autonomy, refusing needed help because the mandate says it's not time yet or both.
Better to leave the medical decisions to medical professionals. They're much better at it than even the best politicians and/or parliamentarians.
Depending on how much money the person has, they should be required to pay for it
Absolutely not. Means testing like that breeds resentment and often leads people between a rock and a hard place where they're too wealthy to get it for free but not wealthy enough that they won't have make sacrifices they might not think to be worth it.
Rich or poor, cost should never be a determining factor in whether or not to seek needed healthcare.
We should have a welfare state. It should also come with responsibilities.
People have enough responsibilities already without the government making demands in order to give them healthcare that they need.
When someone needs help battling addiction, the caring thing isn't to check whether they've worked hard enough to be allowed to work hard.
Means testing doesn't work.
Finally someone is noticing this.
I report this garbage every time it gets recommended to me on YT, which is way too often. These are real human beings going through the most difficult and humiliating experiences of their lives.
One thing that's always overlooked about homelessness is the complete, total, utter lack of any privacy whatsoever. It seems obvious when you say it out loud, but no one seems to acknowledge it. Imagine every bad day you have, you have an audience. When you wake up in the morning after a shit night of sleep, everyone gets to walk by you, judge you, and gawk at how shitty you look. I'm sure not everyone in these videos is homeless (likely fewer than people would automatically assume), but probably a significant enough number.
The fact that there is anyone out there who believes treating people like they're in a zoo and then profiting off of their suffering for "entertainment" is an actual, unfeeling psychopath.
The worst part is that there are a bunch of channels like this and even more videos. They're not limited to addiction but exploit any marginalized people they can. I blame Vice for having constant drug/addiction content with no real message besides "watch this person shoot up for some reason. No, we're not blurring their face." Wtf.
This is part of a larger political astroturfing campaign. There was a very comprehensive post on reddit about it when this garbage starting flooding into small subreddits. I'll see if I can find it.
Found:
https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/qdf9bp/comment/hhp5s4u/
Original credit to /u/hoyarugby on reddit
For people who are actually interested in how this developed rather than flogging a particular political horse
Kensington is a neighborhood in North Philadelphia. It's located not too far from the major highway I-95, and is also well-served by public transit via the Market-Frankford Line (commonly called the El, the elevated train above this street)
It was originally a neighborhood inhabited by Eastern European immigrants, who worked in garment factories, making things like stockings and hats - the textile industry was a key part of Philadelphia's industrial economy
The textile industry was one of the earliest hit with deindustrialization - factories moved to the cheaper and non-unionized American South, and then overseas, and Kensington was hit very hard by this de-industrialization. White Flight wasn't as bad here as in many other cities - Port Richmond, a neighborhood right next to this, is still largely white working class - but much of the white population fled and were replaced by Black migrants from the Jim Crow south, as well as hispanic immigrants
By the 60s the area had a large number of abandoned buildings, and the drug problem began then. First heroin in the 60s, then meth in the 70s, then crack and cocaine in the 80s and 90s. The neighborhood became a bit of a drug "emporium" because of its location - it's right near major highways and train routes, so it was a common place for people from outside of Philadelphia itself to go buy drugs. And all of the abandoned buildings created ideal places for people to squat in and do drugs
But though the area was awash in drugs and drug addicts, the abandoned buildings paradoxically helped keep the problems less visible. Large drug/homeless camps were established in abandoned lots and other marginal space - drug addicts and the homeless congregated there
The current situation in Kensington is caused by two things - fentanyl and cleanup efforts
I probably don't need to elaborate too much here, but the opioid epidemic and the influx of cheap fentanyl from China has turned the existing drug issue into an epidemic. Kensington is the place where you can get the most potent heroin on the east coast, for the cheapest price. It's a place that draws in drug addicts, keeps them ensnared, and kills them via overdoses. And it's the most potent of its kind in the country
Paradoxically, cleanup efforts pushed the problem from being somewhat invisible to being out in the open. In general, both the City of Philadelphia, and real estate money, have made an effort to buy up and restore/rebuild many buildings in the area. Kensington has excellent transit access to Center City, and is very close to the hottest real estate market in the city, the neighborhoods of Fishtown and Northern Liberties. Many of the buildings and abandoned lots that served as drug squats and homeless camps were bought up and torn down or restored, with the hopes that in a few years, Kensington will be the next hot real estate market in the city
The proximate problem that led to the current crisis was the clearing of a number of homeless camps, particularly the biggest one in the city, El Campamento which was established in the CSX railroad cut to the West of Kensington. After mounting complaints from neighbors and community leaders, CSX and the city finally cleared out the homeless camp. They were able to get some people housed and/or in treatment, but many addicts refused treatment/housing, and the drug problem will always create more homeless addicts. But now these homeless addicts didn't have an established camp to go to, so instead they just started living close to the drugs - right under the El on Kensington Ave, which is what you're seeing in this video. Basically, cleanup efforts pushed the homeless addicts out of camps where they were mostly out of sight, and into streets where they were very visible
The problem is really bad, as you can see, but there's no obvious thing for the city to do. A charity tried to set up a safe injection site nearby, but both the Trump administration and locals blocked it from being established. The city's homeless infrastructure isn't really equipped to handle the numbers of people here - and even if it had the money, most of the homeless are addicts and will refuse to live in homeless housing that requires sobriety. Kensington is going to remain a convenient place to buy drugs no matter what thanks to its great transit links. And the opioid epidemic will continue to produce new addicts that will be ensnared by places like Kensington
Some articles:
https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/kensington-opioid-crisis-history-philly-heroin-20180123.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/10/magazine/kensington-heroin-opioid-philadelphia.html
https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/citizen-of-the-week-charito-morales/
No where in either of those links you posted exposes it as an "astroturfing campaign". While I'm sure some people are posting these videos with political motives in mind, does it occur to you that maybe locals are fed up with it? People are watching their cities turn to shit with open air drug markets that many thought were a thing of the past. Just because some retard on twitter with an agenda reposts the video doesn't mean that it's an "Astroturfing campaign" lol.
Here in Germany there is a television station that likes to produce similar trash formats. Whole seasons show people on the streets struggling with addiction and the problems of homelessness.
Even though I think it's important that we don't forget this part of society, it always had a strange aftertaste to me. What is described here sounds like the next stage in this display of human tragedy for the purpose of entertainment.
How is this YouTube's fault. The person who set up the stream is the one picking the content YouTube don't officially know anything about it.
There's many reasons to go after YouTube, but this isn't one of them, this is stupid. What idiot wrote this, and do they not understand how the internet works?
These arguments that always try to absolve giant corporations of any responsibility are so tired, and so nonsensical. They decided to start a company that hosts random people's content, then they and the content creators can take responsibility for it and face the consequences of allowing for, and profiting off of, the exploitation of vulnerable people, bigotry, violence, hate speech, etc etc. There has to be a line drawn somewhere or else you end up with "free speech absolutists" who only allow alt right content on their platform. Gee, where have we seen that one before.
Exposure brings attention, attention brings solution. To be ignored is to never be fixed
People don’t have a problem with the exposure, the have a problem with someone making money off it.
It’s a fucking YouTube stream who cares lol
If you don’t want to be shown as a crackhead on the internet don’t be a crackhead in public
Even though I agree with you that you shouldn't look away, there are two things that bother me:
If I understand correctly, this is completely unmoderated. This means it is up to the viewer how they interpret what they see.
In addition, the income should be made available to solve the problem. But it seems like someone is just putting it in their pocket.
Permanently Deleted
Who gives a fuck about the people suffering on the street; The real travesty here is that someone is getting paid for their work in reporting it!
What an absolute stupid ass take...
while I wouldn't do it, I don't think it justifies calling for censorship.
I thought its purpose was anti-usa propaganda rather than profit. Now I see it can serve both purposes.
The $500 donations must be money laundering. I can't see a normal user on YouTube donating to a unmanned livestream and definitely not that amount of money.
Ever watch a vtuber stream? There's apparently people out there with cash to just burn.
Vtubers do things. They talk to the audience, play games, draw, cook and a bunch of other things. A lot of it is para-social which explains why some people donate a lot. This is a generic livestream of a street.
I think it's just the journalist being silly, there is a tier on YouTube for a $500 donation because that's part of the YouTube system but has anyone ever used it for this stream? Incredibly doubtful.
I imagine like most webcam streams it makes very little money.
Edit - I've watched some and looked through the vods, no adverts so it's probably not monetized - likely due to showing drug use, also no one has donated in any of the sections I've looked at.
This might be a stupid question but how can drug addicts of this sort (the ones who tumble across sidewalks semi-unconscious all day) afford to buy drugs?
They live in an open air drug market and I can't imagine any charitable middle aged lady walking past giving them money. They for sure can't work.
How do they afford drugs?
Crimes. Massive amounts of crimes. I think at this point most burglaries and muggings are due to drug addiction. Grab the stuff, sell it to a fence and buy drugs from a dealer. Often the fence and dealer is the same dude.
I think that many people in this situation may work or have things to sell. This position is sometimes like a rapid decline, not a permanent state of being. Plus drugs are cheap, $20 could get you high all day.
Correct,. hopefully, they don't die before they get help
I feel many think "these people" have zero value, but they are all redeemable, every single one of them
My brother in Christ, it's the oldest profession in the world...(a mouth is a mouth amirite LOL)
My guesses:
Panhandling (Thanks /u/Breezy@lemmy.world) on better streets without the associated stigma
Stealing
Recycling bottles found in the trash (at least where a deposit system exists)
Doing odd jobs for small change.
Skipping lunch for drugs.Short answer: fentanyl is cheap. Wholesale price of fentanyl is around $50,000/kg which is about 400,000 doses, or 12.5 cents per dose. Street value is around $2/dose (~2.5mg). There are a lot of users within that distribution chain who can profit enough to sustain their own addictions.
lol the addicts do anything for money, stealing, robbing, begging, prostituting, you name it, they do it. some even work
Crimes
Google, destroyer of the human pysche.
I thought that was Meta.
Shit, guess it can be both.
Most modern international corps (can we just start calling them megacorps now?) would fit in there
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.
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.
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.
It’s good to bring exposure to these types of issues, even if the only way to do that is through a commercial platform. There’s nothing wrong with monetizing this.
There's nothing wrong with monetizing the filming of vulnerable people without their consent?
Okay
And not even giving them a cut of the profits or helping them in any tangible way? Sure, sure, nothing wrong with that. If they didn't want to be filmed, they should have stayed home...oh, right.
Sometimes I think that instead of antacid's, I'm taking crazy pills.
Is it wrong to monetize newspapers or documentaries? This is journalism too, and the people who document it deserve compensation for the work they do.
Maybe instead of censoring the internet more we can get the people in these situations some help?
No? We're gonna ignore it and force you to ignore it as well?
Okay then...
I can't believe people actually are in favor of censorship, it just blows my mind. I'm an addict myself and I believe in showing the world the problems with drugs and the negative effects drugs do to your neighborhood and country.
I've been clean from drugs for over a decade, and shame is a good thing IMHO
That does sound like a fascinating stream
If profiting from raising awareness is morally wrong then don't donate to any charities either.
Is it raising awareness tho? Seems like a copout for someone who just pockets the money after they exploited people's lower than lowest points.
someone who just pockets the money after they exploited people's lower than lowest points.
You just described most non-profits.
It's literally and demonstrably raising awareness. So the fuck what if it's exlploitative, tons of much more important stuff is.
The reason this is even in the newsfeed is intersectionality, not substance.
Charities are generally non-profit entities. Not the same thing as YouTube at all.
Season 4 of The Wire irl?
so called open air drug market lol