Vigilante app Citizen is paying customers to livestream crime scenes and emergencies

Citizen, an app devoted to blasting folks with notifications about emergencies and crime scenes of their space, has been paying customers to movie its content material.

The firm has been recruiting “field team members” through on-line job listings, providing candidates $200 to $250 a day if they’ll observe down and livestream occasions of their native space. These occasions may vary from “child reported missing, to house fire, to anything else,” says the itemizing, with employees anticipated to interview witnesses and police officers.

As per the itemizing: “You will need to be very quick on your feet, not only in terms of going live during moments that provide value to its users and support the app’s mission, but being able to locate and incorporate interviews on the fly that contribute to the live stream.”

The job listings had been first noticed by the New York Post, however stories of paid Citizen streamers have been circulating for some time. The Daily Dot reported in June {that a} man named Landon was ceaselessly seen livestreaming from crime scenes in Los Angeles. Citizen confirmed to the publication that Landon was a member of its paid discipline group.

As a spokesperson for the corporate instructed the Post: “Citizen has teams in place in some of the cities where the app is available to demonstrate how the platform works, and to model responsible broadcasting practices in situations when events are unfolding in real time.”

Citizen additionally instructed Gizmodo that it has 12 such “field team members” in whole. It’s not clear the place they’re situated, however the job-listings solely point out work in Los Angeles (10 hour shifts for $250 a day) and in New York City (8 hour shifts for $200 a day).

Citizen, which initially launched in 2016 as Vigilante earlier than being kicked off the iOS App Store, describes itself as a “personal safety network.” It generates location-based alerts for customers by scanning police communications and compiling person stories. It tells customers to “never approach a crime scene, interfere with an incident, or get in the way of police.”

The firm has been repeatedly criticized for encouraging mob justice. In May this 12 months, Citizen’s personal CEO approved the supply of a $30,000 bounty to customers if they may discover a man accused of beginning a wildfire. The man’s title and picture had been shared on an official livestream on the app, with hosts encouraging watchers to “get out there and bring this guy to justice” and “hunt this guy down.” But the person was wrongly accused and later cleared by the police, who said Citizen’s actions had been probably “disastrous.”

The firm appears decided to be greater than a passive bystander or data supply. As first reported by Motherboard in May, Citizen has been testing its personal personal safety pressure, deploying Citizen-branded patrol cars who would reply to person requests.