K-Pop Fans Crashed A Police Tip App By Flooding It With Concert Videos

For the past decade, the Dallas Police Department has made use of a smartphone app called iWatch Dallas, which they described in a 2011 tweet as “an app that can be uploaded to your phone so that anonymous tips can be sent to the Dallas Police Department.” However, the app ran into a bit of trouble over the weekend thanks to hordes of K-pop fans.

Over the weekend, Dallas PD brought renewed attention to the app by tweeting, “If you have video of illegal activity from the protests and are trying to share it with @DallasPD, you can download it to our iWatch Dallas app.” In response, K-pop fan accounts decided to implore their followers to overwhelm the app with “FanCam” videos, which are performance clips that focus on one member of a group. Sure enough, the plan worked: Yesterday, Dallas PD tweeted, “Due to technical difficulties iWatch Dallas app will be down temporarily.”

Dallas PD previously explained the purpose of the iWatch app in a blog post, “The iWatch Dallas app is a virtual crime watch that you and your neighbors can use to report behaviors and activities that makes you feel uncomfortable or do not look right while remaining anonymous. The mobile application enables citizens to turn in tips, images and videos about crimes or suspicious activities directly to law enforcement from almost any mobile phone or PC.”