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Social Networks Crime

Viral TikTok Video Attracts 2,500 Teenagers to Rowdy California Birthday Party. 175 Arrested (sfgate.com) 97

Posted by EditorDavid from the yo-Adrian dept.
A birthday party for 17-year-old Adrian Lopez turned into a viral TikTok event that drew thousands of unruly party-goers to Huntington Beach, California, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Just not Adrian Lopez, "who in the days leading up to the party was increasingly nervous about all the attention." When it was over, more than 175 people were arrested, city officials and merchants were adding up the damage, and everyone was wondering who should be blamed and who should be billed...

The high schooler's invitation was picked up by TikTok's "For You" algorithm and viewed by people across the country. The announcement was curious: Who was this mystery teen, and would anyone actually go to his party? Some TikTok users, including internet celebrities, began posting about it, and videos with the hashtag #adrianskickback have since drawn more than 326 million views.

On Saturday night, roughly 2,500 teenagers and young adults — some who say they drove for hours or flew in from other states — converged on the Huntington Beach Pier and downtown area in a gathering that devolved into mayhem. Partygoers blasted fireworks into a mob in the middle of Pacific Coast Highway, jumped on police cars, scaled palm trees and flag poles and leapt from the pier into throngs of people below to crowd-surf. A window at CVS was smashed, businesses were tagged with graffiti, and the roof of Lifeguard Tower 13 collapsed after it was scaled...

Authorities spotted the party announcement when it began circulating last week and immediately began staffing up in preparation for what was being billed as a weekend-long event. In all, more than 150 officers from nearly every police agency in Orange County were called out to the beach Saturday night to help get the crowd under control. Clashes with police broke out Saturday, and officers fired rubber bullets and pepper projectiles as they tried to disperse the crowd. Eventually, authorities issued an overnight curfew to clear the streets...

The majority of those taken into custody over the weekend were not from Orange County, police said.
One 53-year-old watching the crowd told the Times that "Literally they were playing in traffic on the Pacific Coast Highway." But the Times also got a quote from one 18-year-old attendee who "went to last Saturday's party but said he does not condone the debauchery that ensued."

"People my age haven't gone out in a year... It was to get the ball rolling. This is the start of summer."
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Viral TikTok Video Attracts 2,500 Teenagers to Rowdy California Birthday Party. 175 Arrested More

Viral TikTok Video Attracts 2,500 Teenagers to Rowdy California Birthday Party. 175 Arrested

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  • Morons (Score:4, Insightful)

    by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Sunday May 30, 2021 @07:56PM (#61438176)

    This thing has now happened often enough that anybody with 2 brain cells should know how it ends.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      This thing has now happened often enough that anybody with 2 brain cells should know how it ends.

      The problem is that the participants in events such as this one do not even attain that brain cell count between them.

      • Re:Morons (Score:4)

        by Rei ( 128717 ) on Monday May 31, 2021 @06:49AM (#61439082) Homepage

        Certainly feel entitled, too.

        "People my age haven't gone out in a year... It was to get the ball rolling. This is the start of summer."

        Oh, you poor thing, you've suffered so much compared to everyone else. Your suffering of not going out for a year is unique and special. :P

    • Well this is Huntington Beach. And for anyone who has never been there, this is the apex "I'm above petty rules made for lesser people than myself" territory. It's an amazingly beautiful beach and I try to make a visit there every time I'm out on the west side of the US, but the level of entitlement by the locals is just a thousand degrees above anything I've ever witnessed before. But to be fair, I'm sure there's plenty of other places where the local's entitlement is weapons grade. I mean, shoot the e

    • Have you ever been a child before? Or maybe a teenager?
      As a teen I did some pretty lame shit, but most of it was limited to my local friend group and the other kids I knew from highschool. Just as a guy coughed in the soup kitchen in China and left the rest of the world out of jobs for over a year, a kid sharing a post about a birthday party could cause an avalanche of problems.
      The more interconnected and globalized society is, the better, and worse, it's gonna get.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gweihir ( 88907 )

        Kids and teenagers need to know _some_ things are really bad ideas. This is one of those things. They also need to have some appreciation when they are in over their heads and need to know to ask for help in that case. Of course, there may be a failure of the parents in here too, if they failed to make it clear that they _are_ there to help. "Bring me no bad news"/"Shoot the messenger" is not only abysmally bad management or politics, it is also abysmally bad parenting.

  • That was a lot of fun, but... (Score:3)

    by mofolotopo ( 458966 ) on Sunday May 30, 2021 @08:15PM (#61438230)

    Next year's party is going to be LIT

  • Let social media sites do whatever they want, but require reposting to be delayed by a month or something. Then the problem becomes more like detecting duplicates instead of deciding what is true or dangerous.

  • You have no idea how easy it is to get out of hand (Score:5, Insightful)

    by AlanObject ( 3603453 ) on Sunday May 30, 2021 @09:08PM (#61438306)

    A decade or so back at a house in the 'burb where I live.

    Teen gets pissed off at parents. They leave him at the house for the weekend before shipping him off to military school. He gives the house key and the alarm disarm code to a friend at high school, who passes it on. Soon it is in the hands of the local lowlifes.

    Long story short dozens of looters show up, taking everything out of the house that isn't nailed down. A huge party takes place. Some of the family's friends show up and try to save some of the property by locking it in bathrooms and guarding it there. Eventually the police show up and start to slap cuffs on, but by then the story is on national news. I don't recall social media being involved but it probably was.

    The point is we live among a population that has a percentage of it that are barely restrained ghoul-like criminals. What percentage I don't know but I have seen it to be larger that I expected. At the slightest opportunity they will riot and loot and when a couple show up then a hundred can show up like swarming locusts. The prospect of booze, drugs, and party-happy young girls draws some of them who weren't looking to steal stuff but they bring others with them that are. Teens getting a party together typically don't understand this and they innocently post their event on public media so everyone can see how much fun they are having.

    So this kind of event will forever keep happening to those who can't learn this any other way.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • I don't think you're on point with the part of the population being criminals. The reality is that get a big enough crowd at any unmanaged event and tensions will increase to a breaking point.

      Humans very much are monkey see monkey do kind of animals. We derive our social norms from what is going on around us. Peer pressure is a real thing, and both of these are especially worse in our younger years.

      e.g. I've never done drugs. Except at a party where everyone was doing drugs. I've never bought drugs, except

      • A tendency of large crowds to break into violence depends on the nature of the crowd. Large gatherings of mild-mannered and respectful adults and families with small children, convened with the express purpose of peaceful celebration or commemoration, do not start rioting.

    • Teens getting a party together typically don't understand this and they innocently post their event on public media so everyone can see how much fun they are having.

      And this is assuming that the online posting is done by the naive teen.

      Sometimes the teen with the birthday is entirely reasonable with the advertising of the party (e.g.: sending only nominal invitations to his close friends), but other end up posting the party on public media.
      Be it naive friends who mistakenly though they were helpful and could bring more girls.
      Or self-absorbed classmate that decide to show off how much cool they are by bragging publicly about how many parties they attend.
      Or down-right ps

  • Apparently the parents were OK with their teen children being there.

    • I wouldn't really expect an 18 or 19 year old to check in with their parents as to their every move - hell, I didn't even live with my parents when I was 19.

    • I'm sure the parents were OK with their children going to a friend's place for a party.

      You don't actually think anyone said "mum I'm going down to Huntington Beach because I heard there's going to be a large riot and I want to get in on the property damage" do you?

  • I know how to fix this quick (Score:3, Insightful)

    by stabiesoft ( 733417 ) on Sunday May 30, 2021 @09:21PM (#61438322) Homepage
    "When it was over, more than 175 people were arrested, city officials and merchants were adding up the damage, and everyone was wondering who should be blamed and who should be billed.."

    Want it to stop? Send TikTok the bill. Social media will find a solution quickly if they have to pay for it.

    • Following that logic slashdot can be sued for not taking down the ascii swastikas that get posted.

      • If you can show a direct line from that post and a mass civil unrest event, sure. But I've never seen a post on /. inciting a specific event at some specific location. I don't watch the site that closely though, maybe it has happened. Although I suspect it would either get reported, or downvoted to -1 and become all but invisible. I know I would downvote (if I had modpoints at the time) and report it for sure. Does FB have such a system?

      • The only damage is to your feelings, which in a court of law are worthless.

    • Re: (Score:1, Troll)

      by JasonBourne1971 ( 8159172 )
      I'd say bill the internet celebs and then ban or limit their accounts. Their spreading it among their subs are most likely the main contributor

    • Send TikTok the bill. Social media will find a solution quickly if they have to pay for it.

      Do you think they'll pay because they were sent an invoice? I wish they would because it would make my life a lot easier, but the fact is they will not. They'll throw that invoice in the trash were it belongs because they are not obligated in any way to pay the cops because a bunch of people chose to show up at a location that was shared via their service.

      • It was not just shared via their service. They promoted it. That is editorial in nature (which I believe matters in the US under current laws but IANAL and also not from the US).

        We are in a situation where social media platforms have the power to make these events happen. With power comes responsibility, it is reasonable to assign at least a part of the responsibility to the people who have the power.

        • I think a bit more than that for me. In effect social media has made publishers out of anyone, and unlike someone who has a web site, where their actions can be penalized for putting something that causes harm up, the social media sites are the perfect storm. The media companies go "not me, I'm not responsible for content". And the individuals who post go, "not me, I am just posting to my friends." Who really has 100K "friends". Prior to social media, you went thru a publisher to disseminate to large groups

    • "When it was over, more than 175 people were arrested, city officials and merchants were adding up the damage, and everyone was wondering who should be blamed and who should be billed.." Want it to stop? Send TikTok the bill. Social media will find a solution quickly if they have to pay for it.

      Yes, I weigh 500 pounds and had a stroke while bellying up to the buffet for a fourth helping.

      Certainly I should sue the restaurant. Fucking animals should be put in jail for making that much food available. How dare they run ads, goading me on.

      • The difference is you are killing yourself which is your right. In this case people were damaging other peoples property, which is not their right. If they wanted to hold a mass docile event and contracted or cleaned up after themselves, I doubt it would have gotten near the negative reaction it has received. But under those constraints, who would have come to party?

        • ...If they wanted to hold a mass docile event and contracted or cleaned up after themselves, I doubt it would have gotten near the negative reaction it has received. But under those constraints, who would have come to party?

          There exists a sensible middle ground between a "mass docile event" and black-out-waking-up in jail next to your boss and the team mascot.

          It's where the other 99% hang out and party.

          • People have events all the time in parks. As you say, that is the middle ground. Friends gather have a good time, clean up and leave. All without smashing any windows.

  • Someone had a party. Whoopee. Some brats went to jail. Whoopee.
    Story gets posted on Slashdot. What the flying fuck?

  • Okay, the mechanism used for dissemination is recent; but I seem to recall seeing these sorts of stories occasionally in the newspaper (remember those?) long before the internet was a thing.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by pavon ( 30274 )

      If Adrian (or someone else) had intentionally used social media to spread the party this widely, I would agree. But in this case some teen just sent an invitation to his friends and TikTok decided to promote it far and wide, which adds another dimension. It is another example of how social media companies use algorithms designed to maximize engagement to decide which posts to share with whom sometimes with bad consequences.

      Adrian could have used another platform or PM/DM'd his messages, but he'd probably us

      • This is an excellent summary.

      • But in the "old days", when things like this happened... it still wasn't usually the first party who was responsible. It was a friend of a friend, or some random dude who knew a friend of a friend - basically someone random who blast the news about the party everywhere and turned it into a rager. I think there are more similarities than differences.

  • I remember seeing lots of new articles about Flash Mobs invading spaces in early 2000's for spontaneous parties.

  • ... would anyone actually go ...

    MySpace called: They want their old-people's rage and indignation back.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2008/0... [nytimes.com]

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Looting, destroying property, rioting in the streets, shooting projectiles at people... Had these been black or brown kids, the police would have tased, tear-gassed, arrested dozens upon dozens, possibly killing or injuring many. But, these were white kids, so the press just says they were "rowdy".
  • ...idiots have to idiot somewhere! Seems California and FloriDUH are 2 popular places.

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