During my final semester of college, rumors of young men wearing Meta smart glasses and roaming around our university campus started to circulate. They would approach female students, flirt aggressively, catcall them, or otherwise harass them, all while secretly filming everything with their glasses’ built-in cameras. 

My boyfriend, who had since graduated from our university, warned me that semester not to stop and talk to anyone who might approach me as I walked between classes. Now, it wasn’t uncommon for evangelical youth group leaders, bicycling Mormons, pro-life activists, or political canvassers to try to get my attention when walking across the campus green, but I never felt unsafe or threatened in broad daylight at my particular school. 

Not until that semester. 

And the rumors were true. Videos of these encounters began appearing on Instagram and TikTok, where they drew in large audiences of anonymous online voyeurs. 

But, what made these videos especially disturbing to me was how many of the targeted women clearly stated that they were not interested, didn’t want to be filmed, or simply walked away without engaging. Of course, despite their explicit refusals, they were recorded without their consent. The videos were then uploaded for public consumption, inviting hundreds of strangers to comment on them. 

You’ll find that the comment sections of these videos are filled with people criticizing the women for being “rude” or claiming that this kind of combativeness from women is what young men have to expect when approaching women these days. As though these women were overreacting to a polite invitation for coffee, rather than responding to harassment and public humiliation. 

A Public Humiliation Ritual 

But this isn’t just an issue at my home town college campus, this is now a widespread phenomenon. From grocery stores, shopping malls, and countless other public spaces, people seeking online engagement are setting up wherever they can attract your attention. 

Videos of men hitting on young women are a popular genre of this type of content.These videos often feature men lingering on the streets of college towns at night, waiting for drunk young women to have the misfortune of crossing their paths. Or camping out on college campuses of schools that they don’t attend.

I’ve also seen a lot of these pranks target elderly people or low wage customer service employees at grocery stores. One particular content creator found his niche pelting shoppers with store products. 

Whether it’s young women, elderly people, or workers bound by workplace codes of conduct, it’s clear to me that these pranksters are looking for easy victims – people they know are unlikely to fight back. 

Public Spaces Aren’t Content 

The worst part about this kind of content is how it changes the way people feel in the public spaces they once felt comfortable in. College campuses are supposed to be places where students can walk to class or meet new people without wondering whether every awkward interaction is actually an attempt to create viral content. When there’s a chance that a stranger is secretly filming you for millions of viewers, normal encounters begin to feel less…normal. 

Particularly for women, this creates an environment where just existing in public comes with an additional layer of anxiety. Being approached by a stranger has always required a degree of caution, but now there’s the added possibility that refusing, ignoring, or even just looking uncomfortable could become viral entertainment for an online audience. 

You might be unknowingly performing for a camera you can’t even see. 

The goal of these creators is to manufacture uncomfortable encounters. Your anxiety is profitable. Your anger is profitable. And in profiting off of your discomfort, they make parks, sidewalks, campuses, and stores feel a little less like shared community spaces and a little more like film sets where you become the star of someone else’s content. 

TikTok Pranksters Are Ruining Everything 

TikTok pranksters are ruining everything. Not only are they filling our feeds with garbage, low-effort content, they’re changing how we feel existing inside of our communities. They turn public spaces into stages, strangers into props, and everyday people become unwilling participants in someone else’s pursuit of clicks.

Do you think there’s a problem with these Tiktok pranks? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.