[ad_1]
Want to earn $ 200 a day in New York? Blast through the scene of a murder, three-alarm fire, or traffic accident, then pull out your phone and start shooting.
That’s the talk of Citizen, a controversial neighborhood watch app that quietly hires New Yorkers to live-stream crime scenes and other public emergencies in an apparent effort to encourage more ordinary citizens to do the same. , The Post learned.
Citizen has raised $ 133 million from top funders like Peter Thiel, as well as Silicon Valley venture capitalists Sequoia Capital and Greycroft, promising real-time security alerts to users wherever they are. live and work.
The vast majority of these alerts, including videos, appear to come from volunteers who were in just the right place at the right time. And this business model, which comes amid declining coverage of local news by journalists, is saving the company money.
But the application which was previously called “Vigilante” – and which now has more than 7 million users in 30 cities – also discreetly recruits “members of the field team” on journalism sites to travel the city. looking for emergencies.
A user named Chris who goes by @cgutter_, spent Thursday biking in the Bronx at at least six different emergencies, including a bloody bus crash on Morris Avenue and a report of gunfire on East 175th Street. Chris has posted 1,600 videos that have racked up 1.52 million views, according to his profile.
Asked about Chris’ frequent streaming on the app, a Citizen spokesperson admitted last week that he worked for the company.
However, Chris is not reported as an employee of Citizen on the app. Instead, he appears to be just another concerned New Yorker.
“Citizen has set up teams in some of the cities where the app is available to demonstrate how the platform works and to model responsible release practices in situations where events are unfolding in real time,” said spokesperson.
Citizen says he makes no secret of his use of paid members of the field team.
The company also does not post job vacancies on its own website. And Citizen’s name has not been included in a job posting that was deleted since Thursday on the JournalismJobs.com career board seeking “field team members” to work for a “tech company without. name with user-generated content ”.
“You will be streaming live from your phone to the app, covering the event in news form,” read the job listing posted by third-party casting agency Flyover Entertainment.
The post said team members on the ground would be “sent” to cover events including “a dog locked in a car” or house fires. “In the event that witnesses, police officers [sic] or other parties to interview are available, you should take the initiative to interview them for the viewers of the app, ”the list adds.
New York field crew members earn $ 200 per day for eight-hour shifts, while workers in Los Angeles are offered $ 250 per day for 10-hour shifts. Citizen plans to soon expand its field team to “other top 10 markets,” according to the list.
Flyover owner Michael Yates did not confirm the listing was for Citizen, saying “I would violate my NDA and they would rightfully fire me.”
After the post was removed from JournalismJobs.com amid questioning by The Post, a Citizen spokesperson confirmed that Yates was hired on behalf of the company. The spokesperson also sent The Post a link to a still-active and nearly identical list, also on JournalismJobs.com.
In June, the Internet culture site Daily Dot reported on Citizen’s use of field teams in Los Angeles, but the company’s expansion to New York and other areas does not appear to have been successful. previously reported.
Citizen has long been controversial. In 2019, New York City Councilor Justin Brannan criticized the app in a BuzzFeed News op-ed, accusing Citizen of “scaring people” for sending alerts based on unsubstantiated 911 calls.
And in May, Vice reported that Citizen CEO Andrew Frame offered a reward of $ 30,000 for information leading to the arrest of a man suspected of arson in Los Angeles, urging employees to ” FIND THIS F — K “in internal posts – before making sure with a bounty on his head was innocent.
Citizen was first released in 2016 under the moniker “Vigilante,” but launched on Apple’s App Store a week after its launch amid criticism that it encouraged self-defense.
The app was relaunched with Apple’s approval in 2017 as a Citizen.
[ad_2]
Source link