Facebook bans Londoner's hidden camera social posts

London police are investigating social media posts made by a London man that include pictures taken of people without their knowledge.  

The Facebook posts include photos taken at city festivals, in grocery stores, and on city buses, with allegations that the subjects are pedophiles, drug users, and criminal gang members. 

There have been at least 15 complaints to police, said Const. Chris Loizides, who is leading the investigation.

"We're looking at whether this is a hate crime, if it's hate motivated, or if it's encouraging people to do things that are violent or threatening." 

The pictures were posted on the personal but public profile page of a London man. CBC News tried to contact him but had not heard back at the time of publication. 

'Almost in tears'

Most of the photos are blurry and are captioned with unsubstantiated remarks such as: 

• Another alleged opioid user selling his children to peds for money
• This guy is allegedly molesting his own baby!
• Its alleged that this guy is selling his daughter to pedophiles for opioids.
• Women who belong to a jogging club who have recently had babies and who run through Springbank Park are alleging that this black woman who is in the club is threatening to have their babies brain damaged with methyl mercury unless they pay extortion money to her. 
• This guy is allegedly one of the Caribbean gang leaders harassing the residents of Byron.

People featured on the Facebook page — and others on a corresponding YouTube channel — were alerted by others who saw the page shared on local public groups. 

"I was almost in tears seeing that. It's my family," said Alexis Paterson, whose family member was featured in a photo outside of a London farmers' market. 

"There's a racial slur and accusations of things that aren't true. The things that are being said about people are completely untrue. This is supposed to be a community. You shouldn't feel unsafe," she said. 

"Honestly, it's really hard to put into words how I feel. I was shaking last night. I almost felt like I was going to throw up." 

Widely shared

Brandon Fanson was also featured in one of the photos, along with his wife and two-year-old daughter. The photo had been taken in a Walmart parking lot more than a month ago, but was posted more recently. It alleged he was selling his daughter for drugs.

"My phone started going nuts, with people messaging me, telling me that this guy is saying gross things about me," Fanson said.  

"I've got pretty thick skin, but he's saying stuff about my parenting and my daughter."

Fanson's mother, Christina Hutchison, called police Wednesday night. They told her there wasn't much they could do about the posts. 

"I don't think people understand how far reaching this is. People are sharing this," Hutchison said. "It's been reported to the police, to Facebook. When I first saw the stuff published about my son, I was mortified." 

Posts removed

When contacted by CBC News, Facebook said it was looking into whether the posts violate their community standards. 

Just after noon on Thursday, the profile page belonging to the individual was taken down. 

Facebook directed CBC to its community standards that includes removing hate speech, which it defines as 'direct attacks (on) people based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, sex, gender, or gender identity, or serious disabilities or diseases.'

Police said they continue to investigate whether a criminal offence has been committed. 

"If someone takes your picture in a public space, and there's no sexual intent, and there's no threat, there isn't really a criminal offence that's been committed," Loizides said. 

"Simply taking a picture of somebody, whether you're in the background or not, you can't force that person to delete the picture.