Viral TikToks of Virginia kidnappings and serial killer spark panic
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Viral TikToks have spread false claims of mass child kidnappings in Virginia and a serial killer in Richmond.
Why it matters: State and local police have said neither claim is true, but the rumors are still straining resources.
State of play: In mid-August, dozens of TikToks saying mass child abductions were happening statewide led Virginia State Police to publicly debunk the claims.
- Days later, singer and Virginia native Chris Brown posted about "all these kids going missing" to his 144 million Instagram followers. The rumor also spread to YouTube and X.
In Richmond, conspiracy TikToks linking a string of homicides to a possible serial killer went viral this spring.
- One creator with nearly 3 million followers had a video viewed more than a million times.
What they're saying: VSP and Richmond police tell Axios they're not investigating a mass kidnapper or a serial killer, respectively.
- The uptick in viral crime rumors over the past year has led VSP to spend "valuable man-hours researching and debunking false claims," says agency spokesperson Robin Lawson.
- Richmond police spokesperson James Mercante tells Axios that investigating unfounded reports has "an impact on staffing and draw[s] resources from other assignments."
A TikTok spokesperson told Axios that the company didn't remove the related videos Axios shared because they were reporting on the theory, not promoting it, which doesn't violate community guidelines.
Between the lines: Many of these videos fall under "mal-information" — where a "kernel of truth" is exaggerated into a misleading narrative, says Caddie Alford, a VCU professor of digital rhetoric.
- That framing, combined with social media algorithms feeding users similar content, primes viewers to share rather than question, Alford tells Axios.
- "The more often you see something that is saying the same thing, the more familiar it's going to be," Alford says. "And the more familiar something is, it's more persuasive."
Plus: Many people don't feel directly threatened and are drawn in by the thrill of amateur sleuthing, says James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University.
Zoom out: Similar crime theories have circulated nationwide in recent years, such as in Charlotte, North Carolina; Chicago; Austin, Texas; and most recently, New England — all without evidence.
- There was a rare case in Portland, Oregon, when police shut down online speculation of a serial killer, only to have prosecutors tie a man to some of those deaths years later.
The bottom line: False crime rumors aren't new, but social media has helped them spread faster and stick longer, Fox tells Axios.
- "Most people have pretty mundane lives and ... this provides a certain excitement."