The way true crime turns real people’s trauma into entertainment for profit is already disgusting. But watching it unfold in real time with Gabby Petito’s case is nauseating.
So let’s explore TikTok users’ unhealthy obsession with her disappearance.
I first encountered “Gabby is missing” content in a TikTok livestream on Tuesday afternoon. At that time the hashtag “GabbyPetito” had 1.4 million views.
By Wednesday (yesterday) afternoon the hashtag had exploded to 9.7 million views.
The hashtag is currently at 38.3 million views (it has gained more than a million since I started working on this thread)
Viral videos like this one (with 3.5 million views) pick apart every detail of Gabby’s social media accounts and last exchanges with her family.
Imagine your daughter were missing and strangers were picking apart your exchanges with her for their voyeuristic entertainment.
Several accounts have used TikTok’s playlist feature to create “Gabby Petito” playlists to organize the dozens of videos they are making about her disappearance.
Last night, several videos started promoting the completely baseless claim that Gabby’s disappearance is related to the murder of a married couple in August. A rumor also pushed by some gossip sites.
As is typical with information (especially misinformation) on TikTok, it often originates off platform and then explodes through amplification on TikTok.
Speculation by “true crime” accounts and users in comments sections LARPing as detectives just increases this obsession.
These videos are crime-porn often under the guise “awareness.” Supporting a victim and her family does not include pouring through her intimate details and then broadcasting them for attention and profit on social media.
You are not a detective. Log off.
Update: It’s Saturday at 1:50pm and the Gabby Petito hashtag is at 195,000,000 views.
Also concerning is the popularity of her boyfriend’s hashtag.
To highlight just how much TikTok has been contributing to the obsession with the Gabby Petito case, I want to discuss @/mirandabaker_’s account.
She claims to have had an exchange with Gabby’s boyfriend. This video (w 11 million views) was the first ever video on her account.
In the comments of this viral Gabby Petito video you’ll see literally thousands of people convinced they are part of solving a crime.
There is no skepticism regarding the accuracy of a random TikTok video and there is no awareness that this behavior might be in poor taste.
TikTok’s algorithm means any video can go viral and thus any video that “might help solve the case” can go viral.
It seems like the lack of faith in police to solve the crime is mixing with overconfidence in the quality of information on TikTok. So we see comments like these
Gabby’s hashtag is at 291 million views and her boyfriend’s is at 110 million.
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