Toowoomba resident Helen Bell downloaded social media app TikTok so she could keep up with the dance trends her great-niece was into.
"She was showing me some videos of the dancing, and I thought I wanted to have a look at that," she said.
But soon after the 74-year-old downloaded the video sharing app, videos of young people committing crimes started to appear on her For You, or recommended, page.
"Videos of kids hooning around the streets, videos of kids at night-time doing burnouts," she said.
"There's a whole lot of emotions in that.
"There is disgust, there is horror. There is 'oh my god, you kids are going to be killed'."
The former child safety worker, now a member of advocacy group Voice of Victims, said she was concerned the videos she was seeing from all over the country could act as a "recruitment" tool for other young people.
Ms Belle said she took her concerns to her federal MP, the LNP's Garth Hamilton.
New bill introduced
The Member for Groom introduced a private members bill to the House of Representatives this week in a bid to extend the eSafety commissioner's powers.
"What astounds me when I speak to victims of these crimes is that the perpetrator will hold up their phone and record them whilst they're committing these crimes — or they have their friend do it, to make it even better," Mr Hamilton said.
"One of the worst ones is a picture online of a young 'gentleman', to be very loose with the term, standing next to an elderly female victim who he is robbing from beside her bed, taking a photo while she sleeps and posting this online."
Mr Hamilton told the parliament the videos "glamourised" crime, as the videos often had "pumping soundtracks" and "great graphics" accompanying them.
Mr Hamilton said requests to take down the videos were often not actioned by the social media companies.
He said that was why the eSafety Commissioner's scope needed to be expanded to include criminal activity material.
But Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said the eSafety Commissioner already had the power to act on videos showing crime on social media sites.
"The eSafety Commissioner has powers to require the removal of material that would be refused classification in Australia, which includes material instructing in crime," Ms Rowland said.
"eSafety often works directly with platforms and law enforcement to have material down quickly."
Taking down crime
TikTok AUNZ country policy manager Jed Horner said content that promoted or endorsed criminal activity was not allowed on TikTok and it was promptly removed.
"We regularly engage with law enforcement agencies, around Australia, including Queensland Police, to facilitate reporting and take action where content has breached our community guidelines," he said.
"We also work closely with the office of the eSafety Commissioner on this and other matters to ensure our platform is a safe and positive environment for all."
A Meta spokesperson said the company had strict rules on what was and was not allowed on Facebook and Instagram, and they also had a dedicated reporting channel where the eSafety Commissioner could report content directly to the company.
"Our policies clearly prohibit people from engaging in criminal activity or publicising crime and we will remove this content as soon as we become aware," the spokesperson said.
"In some instances, it may not be clear that an act taken by someone is a crime, which is why we have dedicated teams who work with law enforcement around the world, including in Australia, to provide this context so we can take action."
'Need to talk about the bigger issue'
Associate Professor Nadine Connell, from the Griffith Criminology Institute, said she questioned whether videos were recruiting other young people to a life of crime.
"I don't want to pretend that there aren't people who don't get ideas from other people, but it's generally not as common as we think as most of that inspiration comes much closer — from friends and family," she said.
"One potential issue from an online posting perspective is possibly learning techniques that one did not know before, although the truth is that young people can get access to that in a variety of ways.
"We really talk about the bigger issue, which is the responsibility of social media companies to ensure that this content is being monitored, stopped and handed over to authorities when necessary."
She said young people were driven to sharing videos of crime for the same reason people shared workout photos or sunset views.
"It's for attention, it's to brag," she said.
"It's to make themselves look good in their circles."
The Queensland Government recently made changes that made posting footage online of stealing a car an aggravating circumstance in offending, leading to greater punishments.
