Fake News and Sensationalism | The Dangers of a “Badly Done” True Crime
On July 21, the streaming platform HBO Max added its first Brazilian production to its catalog. A documentary about the murder of actress Daniella Perez.
In just one week, the series entered the ranking of the most watched series on the platform, thus demonstrating the popularity of works that portray real crimes.
Now, almost a year since its first Brazilian production, on July 9, 2023, the documentary “Massacre na Escola – A Tragédia das Meninas de Realengo” is being talked about on several social networks. This time, not because of the tragedy it describes, but because of a lie told that can affect the lives of other people.
The documentary
As we begin the penultimate episode, a warning is displayed on the screen to inform viewers that the person responsible for the massacre at the Tasso da Silveira Municipal School in the Realengo neighborhood (Rio de Janeiro) will not be shown throughout the episode to prevent it from inspiring other massacres.
What seems like a careful measure and a job done professionally and ethically, soon becomes just another detail swallowed up by the inaccuracy of facts shown minutes later.
In a talk about the internet and how “lone wolves” is not the best term to use when referring to the person responsible for these attacks, scenes from Counter Strike games are used to exemplify speeches about violence.
About 15 minutes into this episode, Ricardo Chagas says that the first-person shooter (FPS) game was created by the US army as a way to improve soldiers’ aim and performance. He also states that the Realengo killer trained in this game.
In the next scene, he shows his computer screen with a video titled “Free Fire’s +18 chat”, reads the description and says that it is possible to see how these people behave.
In this part of the interview, Chagas insinuates that the author of this video is one of the people who participates in these malicious chats and is indicating others.
The video actually criticizes the content that people send in this global chat and shows that these chats end up creating an appropriate place for people with bad intentions. For example, men looking for virtual sex with girls.
Up until now, we can consider it just an accident, or perhaps the video was used only as an example.
However, it is in the following sequence that the biggest problem of this episode comes to light. When talking about child groomers, the consultant mentions a YouTuber known as Core and states that “this is the largest children’s content channel in Brazil that is not for children”.
This time, he shows scenes from the video “The complete story of Five Nights at Freddy’s”, a horror franchise released in 2014.
According to the consultant, this game would have been “based on a massacre that occurred in a North American diner”. This information, however, has already been denied by Scott Cawthon, creator of the franchise.
Although he did not call any of the creators mentioned in the video recruiters, Chagas’ statements put these YouTubers in a very delicate situation. After all, no one wants to have their content linked to this type of accusation.
In the video, Henrique Marangon Core reinforces that his channel is not for children and shared that this situation has been keeping him up at night, in addition to bringing fear to his family, since there is no way to predict how people will react to this.
But whose fault is it?
It is not uncommon to find podcasts, videos and texts on the internet about criminal cases that have occurred around the world.
Perhaps human curiosity contributes to the multiplication of these materials, perhaps the internet facilitates their distribution.
However, it is a fact that, even before online media, channels such as Investigação Discovery already had an audience dealing with criminal cases. The internet has only expanded their reach.
The role of taking care of the way in which such information is passed on, however, falls to the content creator. Information needs to be verified multiple times and be passed on in a way that protects both the victim and the viewer.
Wrongly accusing a person can have fatal consequences in some cases. An example of this is the collective lynching of Fabiane Maria de Jesus, in 2014.
Because her name was linked to a fake news story that linked it to the kidnapping of children for black magic, Fabiane was tied up and beaten to death by residents of Guarujá, São Paulo.
Another important point to be raised in this situation is the role of content creators and parents in controlling what is consumed by children on the internet.
I remember walking down one of the main avenues in my city in 2022 and seeing Huggy Wuggy plush toys hanging in droves on the flowerbed. This character seems to have become popular among children under eight years old, even though it was not made for them.
In a situation where a YouTuber posts videos playing a horror game on his channel that is not recommended for children, is it up to the parents or the platform to control access?
To what extent can we point fingers without harming each person’s right to produce their work?
Unfortunately, I do not have an answer to any of the questions raised in this text. And I believe that not even those involved do. According to an article published on the F5 portal, Warner Bros Discovery is aware of what happened, but will not comment on it.
On the other hand, during a live broadcast on his Instagram, consultant Ricardo Chagas called Core and his subscribers “digital illiterates” for not knowing how to interpret what he said in the documentary and called Core insignificant.
I think it’s worth pointing out that I don’t consider the documentary to be poorly made, I just feel that there was a great tendency to incriminate video games and the internet as the source of all evil, in addition to pointing out people and their YouTube channels as gateways for predators without even thoroughly researching the data presented.
