We are living in an era where just about everything that you do can be recorded and posted to the internet for everyone in the world to see. And yes, I truly mean everyone in the world. One Iowa influencer, formerly known as Scumbag Dad, who has since changed his username to @brad_podray, is giving the scoop on what to watch out for in public to avoid that from happening to you.
He goes on to uncover exactly what people who dub themselves ‘first amendment auditors’ look like and the type of behavior they are going for. It’s unsettling to know that, according to this information, I have seen people in my own community doing the same thing.
The video in question was posted to TikTok by @prad_podray, an influencer and orthodontist named Brad Podray who is best known by his former username, Scumbag Dad. In the video, he explains what to look out for whenever you see someone who is likely filming in public to create ‘ragebait’ content. These people will typically be dressed all in black and will have numerous cameras with them, hoping to catch people off guard to put them in compilation videos.
He explains that his latest interaction with them was when he went to a post office and saw one standing outside. Inside the post office, two women were talking about whether they should call the police since the man standing outside with cameras was making them uncomfortable.
Brad tells them that that’s exactly what the person outside wants because they aren’t doing anything illegal. He specifically said, “I don’t think you should do that because they want you to call the cops because they aren’t breaking any laws. If you confront this person, you’re gonna wind up on one of these compilatons.” He then gives examples of videos posted within the last month with titles like FOOL SMASHES MY CAMERA !! Carefree Arizona and TURN IT OFF AND DELETE IT 🔥 Tempe Arizona Downtown.
Brad continues his explanation, saying, “this type of video exists so they can make money off of your reaction. They’re allowed to film you, they’re allowed to film your car, they’re allowed to be weird and make you feel uncomfortable because it isn’t illegal in America.”
Influencer Warns People of What to Look for in First Amendment Auditors
Commenters were upset at this revelation, but none were very surprised, as this content is very much in line with what is popular nowadays. One person even offered a bit of advice should this happen to you, saying, “Just walk past them playing Disney music. They’re not making any money off you and they can’t use the clip because YouTube will automatically flag it.“
Other commenters were more shocked than anything, wondering how this wasn’t illegal when many other things that are being done, such as loitering, are. This person says, “how is stuff like this legal but “loitering” is illegal? so if I “loiter” and instead of standing around I start filming suddenly it’s ok?” Unfortunately, that very much seems to be the case in the United States. It’s a good thing we have people like Brad to warn us of these things before they actually happen to us.
