Last month, the NYTimes reported on a street troll. Miles Hudson, age 20, has made a career out of Instagram-ing his reckless and illegally loud driving through downtown Seattle. Here’s gift link to the original story, and here’s the link to the more recent followup, detailing the $83k fine. Illegal and dangerous showoff driving is also common where I live. Now I’m wondering how many of those neighborhood ultra-speeders, street takeover donut drivers, and beltway weave at 100+ mph racers are making their living endangering and annoying us, thanks to Instagram, Youtube, and TikTok?
My question is: Why isn’t Instagram responsible too? I know social advertising companies like Meta have some legal protections on content posted by subscribers. So do blogs like DailyKos. But Mr. Hudson is more like an employee than a subscriber. He makes his living (apparently) getting paid by Meta to do illegal things that people like to watch on Instagram. At some point, by algorithmically publicizing his illegal activity, and then paying him to keep doing it, Instagram should be at least partially responsible for Mr. Miles illegal actions. I think fining Instagram, oh let’s say $83 billion — a million times the fine Mr. Hudson received — would be proportional and fair? Below, a block quote from the first article detailing how Mr. Miles makes his living from Instagram, and felt “professionally unable to alter his late-night [illegal] driving habits.”
When Mr. Hudson posted a video (350,441 likes) showing his speedometer topping 100 miles per hour during a downtown outing to get boba tea, a follower asked: “How does it feel living my dream?” When he posted a video (698,858 likes) showing the rowdy rattles of the Hellcat, another replied: “You really make the town so fun at night.”
In one self-reflective post, Mr. Hudson captured video (69,742 likes) of himself watching a television news segment that discussed the city’s concern about his driving, and proceeded to rush frantically around the apartment, pretending to be fearful that the police were on to him. “I like your content so when they arrest you I’m coming to get you,” one follower replied.
On one recent night when a police officer stopped Mr. Hudson, he pulled out his phone to show the officer his Instagram account and endeavored to explain that he was professionally unable to alter his late-night driving habits.