• I Cast Fist@programming.dev
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      4 days ago

      They aren’t, but that they had to form up at all within roblox shows that the company heads don’t give a single flying fuck to their game being a predator haven.

      • FauxLiving@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        These vigilante groups already existed, there’s an entire genre of “pedophile hunter” content creators that lure people (including children who were pretending to be adults) into traps, often in person, and film them being harassed/assaulted.

        Not surprisingly, they use tactics that are illegal for law enforcement, like entrapment and fabricating data, and have very flimsy standards of guilt (which become even more flimsy if they need more content).

        These guys are not heroes, go watch their videos. They’re people who want to illegally stalk, harass and assault people and use “protecting children” as cover.

        You’re buying into their cover without critically examining their tactics, methods and results.

        It sounds real good right up until it is your 18 year old son or nephew is lured by grown men into a fake date, assaulted on camera and blasted all over YouTube or social media as a pedophile.

        These people are scumbags.

        • I Cast Fist@programming.dev
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          4 days ago

          I had to read the article, since it initially sounded like the groups were doing the vigilantism only within the game. Once things go into real life, it’s a different matter and I fully agree with you there, especially if the groups are looking for views on youtube and social media

          • FauxLiving@lemmy.world
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            4 days ago

            I thought it was a good idea too, I even watched the content for a bit.

            It’s entertaining in a weird way, but watching some guy getting beat up and then seeing the, heavily edited, “evidence” being presented really turned me off. There was a controversy, the 18 year old guy showing up for a date with a “17 year old” and being assaulted was a real incident, and so the police were involved. Their investigation found all kinds of shady things: credit card fraud, CSAM, chat logs including sexual chats with minors etc.

            It all sounds good in theory, but the kind of people who would choose to do this are not the kind of people who you would trust to do it effectively. It’s more like that they want to prey on people too and that’s a lot easier to do (i. e. Generate funding) if you’re pretending to do something noble.

    • snooggums@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      If their actions result in the company and law enforcement actually doing something about the predators, then the vigilantes were part of the solution.

      • FauxLiving@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        I mean the actions of predators also eventually resulted in the company and law enforcement actually doing something about the predators.

        Being a part of the problem isn’t a solution.

        If you look into how these guys operate, it’s not something you would support. For example they often conduct “undercover” stings where they pretend to be a child and exchange sexual message with other users in hopes of finding a predator.

        In reality it’s some guys sexting random Roblox users (who are, statistically, primarily children). It looks exactly like a predator’s behavior, even if you believe their good intentions.

        Law enforcement has procedures, some form of oversight of their operations and their interactions are documented.