New South Wales Police Blocks Man On TikTok For Trolling Them

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Vance said he’s experienced intimidation by the police firsthand, having been randomly pulled over and followed around town several times. The stark contrast between his experience and the TikToks posted by NSW police infuriated him.

“It shows a lack of accountability and shows they’ll do whatever it takes to appeal to the public without taking upon themselves to change their actions,” he said. Many have called the account “copaganda,” messaging designed by the police to beautify their image to the public.

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Police presence on social media is not particularly uncommon — the Queensland police also have a TikTok account, and police in the US often run Facebook accounts and edit their own YouTube videos. In Australia, there is a power disparity between police and civilian digital rights. In September 2021, the federal government passed a bill allowing police officers to obtain warrants that gave them the power to obtain and control social media accounts, as well as delete data and collect network activity, without a judge’s authorization.

After posting five videos, Vance went back to work. But he didn’t realize that they were already blowing up. His satirical take on the account began spreading all over the platform, amassing over 600,000 views. Comments of support flooded in from all over, with many saying, “You are doing gods work.” Vance said he’s also received messages from other people living in NSW sharing their own frustrations with the police.

“I’ve gotten people reaching out to me in my TikTok comments and DMs telling me they were 16, walking into a music festival, and strip-searched because they ‘looked like a drug dealer,’” he said.

Vance said he believes social media platforms, despite the danger of misinformation and bad content, have been able to publicize underreported issues in the country — like his own viral series. In response, he was blocked by the NSW police account, which he also posted about on TikTok. “What’s wrong?” he jokes in the video. “Don’t want to play anymore?”

Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/stefficao/nsw-police-blocks-tiktok-duets

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