Posted on 07/26/2021 1:13:17 PM PDT by algore
Want to make $200 a day in New York City? Rush to the scene of a murder, a three-alarm fire or a traffic accident — then pull out your phone and start filming.
That’s the pitch from Citizen, a controversial neighborhood watch app that’s quietly hiring New Yorkers to livestream crime scenes and other public emergencies in an apparent effort to encourage more ordinary citizens to do the same, The Post has learned.
Citizen has raised $133 million from high-profile backers like Peter Thiel, as well as the Silicon Valley venture firms Sequoia Capital and Greycroft, by promising real-time safety alerts for users right where they live and work.
The vast majority of those alerts, including videos, appear to come from volunteers who just happened to be in the right place at the right time. And that business model — which comes amid declining coverage of local news by journalists — saves the company money.
But the app that formerly called itself “Vigilante” — and which now boasts more than 7 million users across 30 cities — is also quietly recruiting “field team members” on journalism job sites to run around the city chasing emergencies.
A user named Chris who goes by @cgutter_, spent Thursday biking around the Bronx to at least six different emergencies, including a bloody bus wreck on Morris Avenue and a report of gunshots on East 175th Street. Chris has streamed 1,600 videos that have racked up 1.52 million views, according to his profile.
Content is king.
If it bleeds, it leads ..........
...like the arsonist who's "first on scene".
—”I have been seeing a lot of hate for this company”
Would not want to show off too much of the dark underbelly of any big city.
Or cut into the revenue stream of BIG Media?
More here:
Citizen has raised $133 million from high-profile backers like Peter Thiel, as well as the Silicon Valley venture firms Sequoia Capital and Greycroft, by promising real-time safety alerts for users right where they live and work.
https://nypost.com/2021/07/25/citizen-pays-new-yorkers-25-an-hour-to-livestream-crime-scenes/
I can understand that.
The dems don’t want people to see the natural result of their failed policies.
They might then demand something like funding the police again.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.