Men covertly filming women on nights out and profiting from footage, BBC finds

Men are covertly filming women on nights out, then making money by posting the videos online, a BBC investigation has found.

The videos, often described as "walking tours" or "nightlife content", are published on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram. They focus almost entirely on women in dresses and skirts, many filmed from behind or at low angles, sometimes revealing intimate parts of the body.

We tracked down nearly 50 women who had been filmed and found that many were unaware of what had happened. They expressed feelings of fear and humiliation.

One 21-year-old woman, who was filmed from a low angle showing up her skirt, said she had been so affected by seeing footage of herself uploaded without her consent that she has been left feeling paranoid whenever she leaves her home.

The BBC has identified more than 65 online channels with this type of content, whose videos have collectively been viewed more than three billion times over the past three years. The videos focus on nights out in major cities worldwide including London, Oslo, Miami and Bangkok - but one of the most popular locations is Manchester.

Our team went undercover in the city, filming men as they covertly recorded women on a night out, exposing some of the most prolific operators, linked to 12 accounts. This included a local taxi driver and two men who had travelled from Sweden to film in the UK. Two other men, whose channels claim they are based in Norway and Monaco, were spotted filming but we were not able to confirm their identities.

Our investigation is yet another example of women being filmed in public by men - often for profit - without their consent or knowledge.

A separate BBC investigation last month exposed how male influencers claiming to offer pick-up advice use smart glasses to record conversations with women and then post the footage online. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said in response that the government wouldn't tolerate new technology being used to create more violence and harassment against women and girls.

It is not a crime to film in public spaces but a lawyer specialising in image-based abuse said these types of videos fall into a legally "grey area" and could break harassment and voyeurism laws.

Several of the videos we shared with YouTube remain available. The video-sharing platform deactivated two accounts after we contacted it with the findings of our investigation.

TikTok has removed four channels. Videos on Facebook and Instagram remain active.

Grace and Sophie’s experience

It was late October and Grace, not her real name, was outside a club in Manchester, taking photos on her phone while celebrating her friend's 21st birthday. Her younger sister, Sophie, whose name we have also changed, was with them. She had just turned 18 and it was her first time clubbing in the city.

"It was just a normal night," says Grace. "We had absolutely no idea we were being filmed."

It wasn't until we contacted her that she discovered a video of that moment had been posted on YouTube. Footage showing up her skirt had been watched more than three million times by strangers online.

"I planned my outfit carefully," Grace recalls. "From eye level everything was covered. But the angle in the footage was lower. It made me think: how close was he?"

Sophie also appeared in the videos but was not focused on. She says she is - like her sister - "completely paranoid now" because of what happened to them.

"I've not been out because I'm just scared," she says. "This isn't normal. It shouldn't have happened."

Grace and Sophie are among thousands of women we have seen in hundreds of videos over the course of this investigation.

One question remains for them both: who was filming and why did they do it?

Channels and content details

We have monitored hours of these videos, posted by multiple accounts. Some of the most popular channels have racked up more than 200 million views.

The thumbnail on almost every video posted focuses on young women in dresses or skirts, and high heels, with titles that make clear women will be appearing in the footage.

Many of the videos filmed in Manchester show women walking between clubs and sitting on kerbs, with the camera often lingering while they readjust their clothing or pull their skirts down. Hundreds of misogynistic comments appear below nearly every video.

"Look at how these ladies are dressed, no wonder they get attacked," one person posted, with a laughing emoji.

"They belong to the streets", "cellulitis night out" and "little piglets everywhere" were other comments seen beneath videos.

While we found many of the women in the videos relatively easy to id...