TikTok sleuths' 'toxic' interest in Nicola Bulley condemned

msn.com:

threatens to undermine future missing person investigations, a former police commissioner has warned. The proliferation of videos about Ms Bulley on the social media platform TikTok now matches those during the kidnapping and murder of Sarah Everard, figures show.

Lancashire police’s failure to make significant progress in its search for the mother-of-two, has prompted amateur detectives to speculate online about Ms Bulley’s fate since she went missing three weeks ago.

Martyn Underhill, former police and crime commissioner for Dorset, warned that the "unprecedented" emergence of social media investigators could set a dangerous example for future cases. “This is the first missing persons case that’s seen these levels of toxic behaviour on social media," the retired Sussex detective chief inspector told The Telegraph. "It exceeds anything that happened in other cases, such as that of Sarah Everard. “My fear is it will set a precedent for future cases, with TikTok detectives descending on the scene with their speculation and misleading theories. ”Lancashire police allowed speculation over Ms Bulley's case to spread by not "setting the media agenda" from early on, he suggested. “Social media detectives stepped into the vacuum of information left by Lancashire police,” he said. “Police will have to change the way they conduct similar investigations to take social media into account. ”Videos discussing Ms Bulley and using her name as a hashtag have accumulated more than 289.

5 million views since she disappeared three weeks ago. Those using the hashtag "Nicola Bulley search" have 21. 2 million views while those for "Nicola Bulley husband" have 1.