The Internet is the biggest depository of child abuse in the world, but when someone posts a Vine of a baby smoking a blunt everybody loses their minds. That’s the lesson avid Vine user @NikoWavy will be taking away from his unfortunate decision yesterday to upload someone else’s video of of a toddler dragging on a suspiciously hollowed-out cigar.
The Vine in question appears to have first been uploaded to Vine three days ago by a user called @ChiefSmokes with the title “Wow fucked up parents smh”. The short clip of a toilet-sitting youngster being plied with cannabis by a maniacally laughing adult touched a nerve and sent the Vine viral, with over 33,000 shares on Twitter and 4,500 revines.
While most were people were happy to revine and move on, the shareable potential was too much for @NikoWavy, who copied the Vine and posted it himself. Here is a screenshot of the video that @NikoWavy has since deleted:
The title of the Vine, “I’m not black no more….. Y’all niggas are something else smh,” made clear @NikoWavy’s opinion of the Vine, but that hasn’t stopped him from taking the brunt of a wave of righteous indignation. First came the angry comments.
Then the angry tweets.
@NikoWavy I sure as shit did and I’m not the only one. Who cares if you didn’t film it you’re ignorant for uploading it.
— Kimberly Thompson (@KimProving) April 11, 2014
Then the angry vines. And finally the the witch finder generals on super sleuth forum Reddit got into action. Reddit user skidoorider21 was quick to tell the Californian Child Protection Services that somebody in their state had copied a video.
Reddit users showed their appreciation, upvoting skidoorider21’s comment to the top of the page, ensuring that thousands of Reddit users will glance at the post and assume that @NikoWavy was had been caught in the act filming himself abusing a child.
It’s all proved rather overwhelming for @NikoWavy, who just wanted to innocently farm someone else’s content for revines.
How can you not read my caption an know I didn’t film that video?
— I Aint Seen Shit! (@NikoWavy) April 11, 2014
Posting content that people feel guilty for finding funny is a dangerous business.
Photo via iTopher/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)