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Exclusive | Akash Singhania after Vitaly's livestream falsely accused him of being a pedophile: I have got death threats
US-based entrepreneur Akash Singhania recounts his wrongful accusation as a predator during a livestream by YouTuber Vitaly.
A couple of minutes on a livestream is all it took to turn his life upside down. In a now viral video, YouTuber-vlogger Vitaly lured US-based entrepreneur Akash Singhania into a sting operation. He was declared a ‘pedophile’ even before he could process what was happening. Vitaly had to apologise later when proved wrong…
But it was too little too late. In a video chat with HT City from US, Akash tells his side of the story:
Akash, how did the entire incident go down?
As millions of people do every single day, I was talking to someone on a dating app. We agreed to meet consensually, and I had no reason to assume anything was out of the ordinary. You need to verify your age on these apps. Her job was to lure people into Snapchat, tell them her fake age (as a minor), and then meet up. That never happened between us. She was texting so many guys at the same time, incentivised to get someone as fast as possible for the show. It was a complete mistake on Vitaly’s side. This girl and I were texting the entire time on the dating app and made plans to meet, 20 seconds after I met her, immediately four-five cameras were in my face. People around me were saying the most vile, crazy, racist things. In my head I was beginning to think ‘is this a prank?’ because I knew I did nothing wrong. I said I am not going to pander to this nonsense. Then she said there was a second Snapchat texting her, it was not me. She hid her phone and would not show me anything. I decided to call the cops. You have the right to remain silent and anything you say to cops can and will be used against you. You should also not say anything until you have a counsel... but I waived off all my rights in that moment. I had nothing to hide, and the police checked everything. I was innocent.
The video from the livestream went viral. What happened next?
It was too late by the time I was let go. Millions of people had already figured it out, Vitaly’s team had put out clips of the incident on hundreds of channels. This happened to me in Los Angeles, my cousins in India had found out within two hours. Not only was there false accusation, it also sparked intense racism online. People threatened to beat me, kill me, tried to put me in jail. They culled out my business, social media profiles, my LinkedIn profile, and told everyone to go and cancel me. It has been a nightmare.
What were the repercussions on the personal front?
Because I called the cops immediately and my family knows me, they were confident I had not done anything wrong. Luckily the first info my parents got was from the cops. They spoke to my father and said ‘your son is innocent, sorry this happened to you guys’ That helped a lot. A lot of my friends kicked me out of group chats, blocked me. Two days later when Vitaly apologised, some of them texted me back saying ‘sorry, we thought this stuff was true’ They could have asked me, I would have liked that.
This sheds light on vigilante journalism. It has helped many, but like this case, also leads to people passing a judgement about someone without any verification or proper investigation. This can negatively impact lives. What do you think about this, considering you were dubbed a predator immediately?
I wholeheartedly support protecting the innocent and vulnerable from any type of wrongdoing. But at the same time, when you have such a big platform, when you wield such power, you should do the due process and verification before falsely accusing someone or threatening physical harm and being extremely racist. It’s important that you get the right person. I have seen people do the work correctly, and putting away people in conjunction with the cops. But when you have someone like Vitaly, who only cares about views… the very next day after my incident, he spent a whole livestream going around with a caught predator, asking 35000 people who had joined the stream whether he should let him go. It was a poll, and people said to let him go. Towards the end of the night, Vitaly and his team somehow let him run away, they said he ran away. But if they really cared about all this, that guy would be in jail. They didn’t even acre to listen to what I had to say. They went as far as to say that I created a second Snapchat account and had a second phone!
What steps are you going to take against Vitaly?
I am keeping all my options open. Right now the priority is the mental health of me and my family. Vitaly and all other parties need to be held accountable.
How’s the response been on social media since you were proved innocent?
The support has been amazing, from my parents to grandparents, people my age, friends. Some are hating too. A lot of people have been saying they want to donate, but I am not accepting any money or donations, thank you to everyone who offered. I was lucky to have my family support me, my community cooperated, so did the police department. Not many are this lucky.
