Predator Poachers
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| File:Predator Poachers' logo.jpg | |
| Abbreviation | PP |
|---|---|
| Formation | 2019 |
| Founder | Alex Rosen |
| Purpose | Amateur sting operations. |
| Location |
|
Predator Poachers is a United States-based vigilante group founded by online influencer and banned YouTuber Alex Rosen. The group is mainly known for its polemical confrontations with suspected child predators, which are often filmed and posted on the internet.[1][2][3][4]
Founded in 2019, Predator Poachers has conducted multiple sting operations against suspected child predators in the United States.[4] During these operations, the group, which is composed of young volunteers, would pose as minors on social media for the purpose of contacting and then confronting potential child predators in real life, often while recording the encounter.[5][4]
Those confrontations have included the use of racist language (including the n-word),[4][2][3] the use of real minors as decoys,[3] verbal attacks[4][5] and supposed instigations to fights.[4] The group is also known for its confrontation with online influencer Deyione Eason (known online as EDP445), which caused a controversy that culminated in Predator Poachers being shut down on YouTube for the second time.[2][3]
Aside from conducting sex stings, the group has also produced videos and livestreams on social media where its founder uttered racist slurs, including while prank-calling a Black Lives Matter hotline,[3][2] as well as one video where he joked about sexually abusing a 3-year-old child.[6] Predator Poachers has had two accounts banned from YouTube and one removed from Instagram.[6][3] The group was also criticized by the director of the Special Victims Unit from Kentucky's Office of the Attorney General due to its "terribly dangerous" conduct.[7]
History[edit]
Alex Rosen, then a 19-year-old college dropout and part-time delivery driver, founded Predator Poachers in early 2019 after his younger brother was sextorted on Instagram.[8] He claimed that he always wanted to become a police officer.[9]
In 2020, Predator Poachers reached over 160,000 subscribers on YouTube. At that time, the group differentiated itself from other vigilante organizations for its shocking humor, as well as its founder's remarkable use of excessive and derogatory language on videos. Rosen said that a big part of making Predator Poachers' videos was to make them entertaining.[8]
During its operations, Predator Poachers' members would sometimes team up with other vigilante groups and supposedly instigate fights.[8]
In that same year, Predator Poachers had 14 affiliates, but had to cut down to 7 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To join Predator Poachers, they had to sign a liability waiver.[8]
In 2021, Predator Poachers confronted online comedian Deyione Eason, who had over 2 million YouTube subscribers at the time, for allegedly having sexual conversations with a fictitious 13-year-old girl. The confrontation was then uploaded to YouTube and received almost 2 million views. Days after the video was published, both Eason's and Predator Poachers' accounts were banned from YouTube.[10][11][2]
Sting operations[edit]
Predator Poachers uses public social media profiles to pose as minors online. Once a sexual conversation has started and the suspect agrees to meet the decoy, a member of the group goes to confront the suspect instead, often recording the encounter.[7][4][12] After the confrontation, relevant information about the suspect is forwarded to law-enforcement.[7][12]
During some confrontations, Predator Poachers' members have engaged in public shaming tactics and supposed instigations to fights.[5][4]
The group's founder, Alex Rosen, has also had his life threatened on multiple occasions.[4] In one interview, he stated: "I've been threatened with a gun — not pointed at me, but threatened. (...) It's a risk we're willing to take. (...) In the end, if you want to make the world around you better, you've got to sacrifice something or be willing to sacrifice something. There's no reward if there's no risk."[7]
In another 2020 interview about his confrontations, Rosen stated: "I literally just yell in someone’s face and make them feel shitty."[4] In 2019, Rosen stated that he would often intentionally meet his suspects in the back of Walmart stores so he could get a 3-minute-window to "shame the shit out of them" when they tried to leave the place.[5]
Legal efficacy[edit]
When asked about its conviction rate by journalist Chris Hansen in June 2021, the group's founder stated that the group, after two years of operation, had approximately "over ten" pending or successful convictions for over 300 potential predators that had been arrested and/or exposed.[13]
Social media bans[edit]
Since 2019, the group operated on YouTube under the channel named "Predator Poachers", which had over 160,000 subscribers as of August 2020. Up to that month, the channel had received two strikes due to policy violations, making it one strike short of being banned from the platform.[4] Later in that same year, the channel was ultimately banned due to multiple community guideline strikes.[3]
In April 2021, a Predator Poachers channel named Chet Goldstein was banned from YouTube.[3]
Predator Poachers has also had one account removed from Instagram.[6]
Controversies[edit]
Use of real minors as decoys[edit]
In 2020, a video of a sting operation by Predator Poachers contained footage of Alex Rosen's 16-year-old cousin unbuckling and taking off his pants in front of a suspected child predator. In other videos from Predator Poachers' now deleted YouTube channel, Rosen stated that he had been using minors as baits for his videos.[3]
During another sting operation, a purported minor that Predator Poachers had used as a decoy stated that the group's target was "touching and kissing me and trying to hold my hand."[3]
Use of racist slurs[edit]
Alex Rosen, the founder of Predator Poachers, has uttered racial slurs on Predator Poachers' videos on multiple occasions, though he denies having any form of racial prejudice.[3][2] "It obviously looks bad", Rosen said during an interview. He also said that he had "no hatred in my heart towards any group of people."[3]
Rosen has also used racist and homophobic slurs while prank-calling a Black Lives Matter hotline.[3]
During a 2021 interview between Chris Hansen and Alex Rosen, Hansen criticized Rosen's conduct: "You used racist language on your videos, and now you have the character to go against predators?"[14]
"I lick ass" t-shirt[edit]
In 2020, when confronting a suspect in Nebraska, Predator Poachers members told him to wear a "I lick ass" t-shirt against his will or they would call the police. After the fact, Rosen told the Insider that they would often "toy" with their suspects during the videos.[3]
Later in 2021, the same suspect was convicted for crimes not relating to Predator Poachers' decoy. According to court documents, the charges related to Predator Poachers' decoy were declined because the group was not associated with law-enforcement.[15]
Confrontation with Deyione Eason[edit]
In April 2021, Predator Poachers confronted online comedian Deyione Eason (also known as EDP445) for attempting to meet an underage girl. Eason had 2 million YouTube subscribers at the time, and Predator Poachers' video reached 1.9 million views before its channel was banned days after the video was made public.[3][16][17]
No arrests have been made or charges been filed against Eason after this incident.[3]
Child sexual abuse jokes[edit]
In another video, Rosen joked about pedophilia while prank-calling a Black Lives Matter hotline.[3]
References[edit]
- ↑ "Vigilante 'Predator Poachers' come to Sacramento". FOX 40. 7 December 2021. Archived from the original on December 8, 2021.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 "A YouTuber with 2 million subscribers was accused of messaging a fake 13-year-old in a vigilante sting operation". Yahoo News. Archived from the original on 2023-03-23. Retrieved 2023-03-23. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 Asarch, Steven. "A predator hunting YouTuber and a man seemingly caught in a sting both had their channels removed by the platform". Insider. Archived from the original on 18 May 2021. Retrieved 2023-03-22. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 Oprea, Mark. "Armed With Cell Phones, Not Badges, Amateur Predator Catcher Groups Are Sprouting Up Across Northeast Ohio". Cleveland Scene. Archived from the original on March 24, 2023.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Seedorff, Matthew (2019-08-20). ""Predator Poachers" publicly shame adults accused of trying to prey on young kids". KABB. Retrieved 2023-04-11.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Xia, Jennifer (2021-04-21). "Video: Popular YouTuber caught by 'Predator Poachers' allegedly trying to meet with 13-year-old girl". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 2023-04-11.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Wymer, Garrett (26 May 2022). "WKYT Investigates | Vigilante justice". WKYT. Archived from the original on May 27, 2022. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Oprea, Mark. "Armed With Cell Phones, Not Badges, Amateur Predator Catcher Groups Are Sprouting Up Across Northeast Ohio". Cleveland Scene. Archived from the original on March 24, 2023.
- ↑ Sirles, Ethan; Hawke, Zak (29 December 2021). "'Predator Poachers' fake Instagram account leads to arrest in Southern Kentucky". WYMT. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
- ↑ Asarch, Steven. "A predator hunting YouTuber and a man seemingly caught in a sting both had their channels removed by the platform". Insider. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
- ↑ Hale, Jacob. "YouTuber EDP445 caught allegedly trying to meet with 13-year-old girl". Dexerto. Retrieved 2023-03-24.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 "The Disturbing Rise of Amateur Predator-Hunting Stings". The New Yorker. November 2, 2022. Archived from the original on 2023-03-22. Retrieved 2023-03-22. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Hansen, Chris, Have A Seat With Chris Hansen ft. Wes Moast, CC Unit, Alex, & Daniel Warner discussing EDP445, retrieved 2023-03-22
- ↑ Hansen, Chris, Have A Seat With Chris Hansen ft. Wes Moast, CC Unit, Alex, & Daniel Warner discussing EDP445, retrieved 2023-03-22
- ↑ Chisam, Elic. "Sidney man sentenced in child porn case". News Channel Nebraska. Archived from the original on March 23, 2023. Retrieved 2023-03-24.
- ↑ Hale, Jacob. "YouTuber EDP445 caught allegedly trying to meet with 13-year-old girl". Dexerto. Archived from the original on 2023-03-24. Retrieved 2023-03-24. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Hansen, Chris, Have A Seat With Chris Hansen ft. Wes Moast, CC Unit, Alex, & Daniel Warner discussing EDP445, archived from the original on 2023-03-22, retrieved 2023-03-22 Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help)
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