People Are Way Too Comfortable With Filming Strangers Without Their Consent

Consent. What does this word make you think of? For me, my mind almost always goes to sex, and I’ll tell you why. In high school, we were taught about safe sex and consent a lot. I remember sitting at an assembly my freshman year, giggling with my friends because the YouTube video they chose to present to us was oddly inappropriate – it was full of puns, awkward roleplay, and jokes – a pretty cringey way to deliver a message on a very sensitive topic. It was brought up again year after year to really ingrain the idea of consensual sex into our minds in school. 

Since then, my mind has gotten used to equating that word with a physical exchange. But – as we all know – consent should apply to everything. This isn’t the case though, and that’s easily proven. This generation, so obsessed with taking the moral ground, always preaching about moral issues like consent, has an addiction to something that we’ve become too accepting of: filming strangers without their permission.

Melbourne Woman Who Was Recorded without Her Consent Felt "Dehumanized"

In Melbourne, a young man named Harrison went to the mall to hand a bouquet of flowers to a random stranger – a seemingly nice, random act of kindness. He decided on one woman, Maree, who was sitting alone at a table. While she sat there drinking, Harrison tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. “Sorry to bother you, is it okay if you can just hold these?” he asks while handing her the bouquet of flowers. She grabs it, and he pulls a jacket from his backpack to put it on. But Harrison didn’t take the bouquet back once he was done. Instead, he says, “Have a lovely day!” and walks away. 

Harrison recorded this whole interaction and uploaded the video to his TikTok for the world to see. His caption, “I hope this made her day,” brought an onslaught of supporters and comments that praised his good deed. “Wow that was so beautiful I swear I would cry,” one user wrote. “My heart! That made her feel so good and it looks like she might have needed it,” another commenter said. Harrison’s viral TikTok touched millions of people. Of course, this was a normal occurrence for the influencer, since the rest of his videos are similar in fashion, often performing sweet gestures to unsuspecting strangers.

So, what’s the problem? Well, after Harrison's video reached 57 million people – including Maree – word came out that she wasn’t happy at all. In fact, Maree said she felt “dehumanized” after having seen herself go viral. “He interrupted my quiet time, filmed and uploaded a video without my consent, turning it into something it wasn’t…I feel he is making quite a lot of money through it,” she said in an interview with ABC Radio Melbourne. "It's the patronising assumption that women, especially older women, will be thrilled by some random stranger giving them flowers."

He interrupted my quiet time, filmed and uploaded a video without my consent, turning it into something it wasn’t.

Maree added that she wasn’t exactly thrilled to carry flowers in the train on her way home, but that she wasn’t given an “opportunity” to even decide. And for anyone who favors anonymity over having a public online persona, going viral is not expected. “I think other women, especially older women, should be aware that if it can happen to me, it can happen to anybody,” Maree says. “I don’t do any Facebook, Instagram, TikTok – anything –
and yet it happened to me.”

At first, Maree says she “didn’t think much of it” when her friend showed her the video. But when the media started to make news reports on the video, describing it as “a heartbreaking tale” and her as “an elderly woman,” Maree felt “dehumanized.” Harrison and the news had successfully used her to gain attention. “I feel like clickbait,” Maree said. 

In Harrison's Defense

Harrison’s PR team defended his actions, stating that his video was “designed to spread love and compassion.” The spokesperson said that Harrison has “only encountered gratitude” for the things he has done and “wholeheartedly apologizes” to Maree. And it’s true, many of the strangers in Harrison’s videos are usually happy. But this doesn’t mean that everyone else he comes across will be pleased with his actions.

In my opinion, Harrison seems like a sweet young man compared to the popular influencers on TikTok who make their living off "pranking" people. There are also your other less-known TikTokers who record others for laughs, including the homeless and drug-addicted individuals.

We Should Be Worried

If you were concerned about the government watching your every move or heavy surveillance, the prospect of people being able to film you anytime, anywhere, for any reason should scare you. Thanks to TikTok and other social media platforms, we've unwittingly ushered ourselves into a community-based surveillance era. What's worse, is the growing number of internet users who dox people who disagree with them. George Orwell would be horrified at the state of our world. Privacy is dying. We're all keeping too close of an eye on each other, and at some point, this may be weaponized by the government.

Closing Thoughts

Today, TikTok has countless content of strangers who have been recorded without their knowledge. We live in a world of social media and technology, and recording and capturing moments have become second nature to people. The minute something out of the ordinary happens, users automatically reach for their phones in hopes of getting millions of views. Still, not everyone wants to be recorded and exploited for likes or money. In fact, I’d say a lot of people don’t. Yet, here we are, a society so eager to exploit people for notifications and dopamine, all the while preaching about issues like consent. It’s high time we apply that word to everything else, and not just sex.

But I digress...because I have other concerns. The more we normalize this behavior, the more privacy we lose – something we seem to be losing more of each day as we advance technologically. If everyone is recording strangers all willy-nilly, anywhere and anytime, then it's only a matter of time until governing bodies do the same with even heavier surveillance.

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