Fans spam Dallas police with K-pop videos after cops ask people to turn in protesters

Dallas police asked Twitter users to submit video of illegal activity during George Floyd protests early Sunday, but K-pop fans had something else in mind.

The tweet asked locals to upload video to the department’s iWatch app, which allows people to submit anonymous crime tips and video to law enforcement.

Just minutes after it was posted, Twitter user @7soulsmap shared a screenshot of the tweet, imploring protesters to cover their faces.

Not long after, Korean pop music fans — who are known for their passion — began responding to the two posts with memes, videos and photos of K-pop stars.

“I have a video for you,” one user wrote.

“I got footage of a criminal right here,” wrote another.

“i hope u like fancams,” a third wrote.

The term fancam was popularized by the K-pop community and typically refers to a super-cut of video footage of a band member taken at the same event, according to Refinery 29.

Others vowed to bombard the iWatch app with K-pop fancams, calling on others to do the same.

“Guys download the app and ... make it SO HARD for them to find anything besides our faves dancing,” one user wrote.

Others joined in.

“I’m in,” one user wrote, along with a screen shot of the app platform.

“Hope they like Hwanwoong,” wrote another, along with an image of the ONEUS band member.

Police posted on Sunday night that the iWatch app was temporarily down due to technical difficulties, but it’s unclear if the issue was caused by the influx of fancam submissions.

A number of people also left one-star reviews for the iWatch app on both the iOS App and Google Play stores, some referencing Black Lives Matter in the comments field, Buzzfeed reported.

Protests are sweeping across the U.S. after the May 25 death of George Floyd, who died while while he was detained by Minneapolis police. Video of the incident shows police officer Derek Chauvin with his knee on Floyd’s neck for several minutes, despite Floyd’s pleas that he couldn’t breathe.

Police in Minneapolis have been using a number of surveillance tools to monitor protesters, including facial recognition software, body cameras and license plate readers, Buzzfeed News reported.

“I feel like many people share the same sentiments in regards to how they view excessive use of force by law enforcement with protesters and how the general trust in them from the public has withered,” @7soulsmap told Buzzfeed, which did not identify the Twitter user. “Black Lives Matter PERIOD.”

@7soulsmap’s tweet about the DPD’s request has more than 43,000 likes and 25,000 retweets as of Monday.

“I’m happy to see how many people are willing to help the protesters keep their identities hidden and stay safe,” @7soulsmap told Buzzfeed.

This story was originally published June 1, 2020 at 1:43 PM with the headline "Fans spam Dallas police with K-pop videos after cops ask people to turn in protesters."