'We made a mistake': Citizen app offers $30K reward for wrong man in CA wildfire

I wonder how they manage the number of internet vigilantes out there more than willing to offer distorted "information".

I was on reddit and ran across a video that the submission claimed to be of someone poisoning local pets. The video showed someone pouring something on the ground from a distance. We never see what it is.

Later we get a video where the camera person is screaming at the person they are recoding. The person just walks away as the camera person follows them yelling.

I was a bit horrified that when I expressed in some skepticism I was meet with a lot of arguments like.

"Why didn't they stop to talk if they're innocent?"

"You know people really do this."

"You don't have to defend a dog killer you know."

Apps that just have text and a photo, not even an image of a crime, people will believe it whole hog.

A during riots in Minneapolis a local social media apps and sites had rumors spread fast about drive by shootings by people on pickup trucks with assult rifles, several nights in a row despite it never appearing in the news.

One city council member spread the rumors of a full on Klan ralley in a park with hoods and all...

>Citizen — a mobile app that sends users location-based safety alerts in real time — launched in 2016 under the name "Vigilante." It rebranded in 2017 but faced accusations of encouraging vigilante activity in 2019 in New York.

This really made me laugh

Wow, so active community vigilantism isn't actually a solution to solving problems - shocking.

Can any lawyers around comment on recourse the guy might have against the company?

I'm glad they're acknowledging the app they made was a mistake.