Short-video platforms must protect privacy

Earlier this month, when a young woman and a male friend were meeting up at a coffee shop in Tianjin, another man tried to chat her up and asked her for her WeChat ID.

The woman politely turned down the man’s request but a few days later she got to know that a video of her at the coffee shop had been posted on a short video-sharing platform. The woman was furious as the man who had tried to chat her up had not told her he was making a video nor taken her permission before uploading the video. She left a comment under the video, asking for its removal, and even reported the matter to the platform’s handlers. The account that posted the video was soon disabled.

However, this is not an isolated case. Websites dealing in short-videos are replete with accounts that post such videos showing “how to chat up women”. Their purpose is to post such videos for money.

Taking a video of someone without their permission and uploading it violates someone’s right to privacy, but such videos are being made and uploaded online with increasing frequency. It was only because the woman in this instance complained that the video of her was removed. What if her attention had not been drawn to the video? One just has to browse these sites to find many such videos.

Obviously, there are loopholes in the supervision of some short-video platforms, as they are uploading contents that violate other people’s right to privacy.

Women need to be on the alert if a stranger tries to chat them up. If they suspect the person interacting with them might have a hidden camera somewhere, they should consider calling the police to better protect their right to privacy.