In Japan, many people with perverted behavior peek at women. The Japanese police also took precautions via YouTube.
According to the Personal Security Division of the Kyoto Prefectural Police, the number of arrests for these voyeurs has increased by 25% compared to last year.
Voyeurism itself is the behavior of obtaining sexual pleasure by peering or observing other people who are naked or having sex.
Due to the increasing number of cases, the police decided to take action with a more proactive approach, one of which was through YouTube.
YouTube, like most other online platforms, has targeted an advertisement that is meant to target specific users based on what they are searching for in the hope that it will be relevant enough to get users interested in buying a product or service.
For example, if a user is looking for financial consultant content, there will likely be advertisements or products such as investments or other financial services.
Well, the Japanese police will use this targeted advertisement and turn it into a warning to would-be voyeurs. The police will target male users over the age of 18 who are likely to search for 'peeping' and 'small camera' content.
This may be a sign that they are interested in watching the voyeuristic video or want to be the culprit.
In the video there will be advertisements warning that voyeurism is a crime. This ad is scheduled to run until mid-November.
This police decision also invites pros and cons from netizens in Japan where this police method is not a good idea and is even considered to violate user privacy.
"So they peeked at all of our search history to stop snooping?"
"I understand that it might and might even work, but I still don't like it."
"This is a bad idea."
"I hope this doesn't get out of hand and they start monitoring people based on search history."
"Isn't it possible that many normal people are also interested in small cameras?"
On the other hand there are also comments that support this police move.
"We want people who see these ads to remember that they will be arrested."