AI slop continues to take over the internet. Last year, users exploited AI to create gibberish Cocomelon rip-offs on YouTube. Now, we’re seeing AI-generated videos about gruesome crimes. And nobody did it better (or worse, depending on how you look at it) than the former YouTube channel True Crime Case Files.
With 150 harrowing stories of sex slavery, murder, and abuse, the man behind True Crime Case Files described his channel to 404 Media as an “absurdist art form.” But not everyone sees it that way, least of all YouTube.
The platform took notice of the channel after a particular video entitled “Husband’s Secret Gay Love Affair with Step-Son Ends in Grisly Murder” went viral. In the video, which amassed nearly 2 million views, it was claimed that the crime happened in Littleton, Colorado. This prompted viewers to contact local journalist Elizabeth Hernandez to ask why the local paper never reported on the crime.
“Some people, in fact were saying, ‘Why didn’t The Denver Post cover this?’” Hernandez told 404 Media. “Because in the video, it makes it sound like it was a big news event, and yet, when you Google it, there is no coverage.”
Why is that? The simple answer is that the videos aren’t real. All the stories were fictional. But according to the channel’s creator, that doesn’t matter.
‘True Crime Is A Genre’
“It needs to be called ‘true crime,’ because true crime is a genre,” he said. “I wanted [the audience] to think about why […] they care so much that it was true, why it matters so much to them that real people are being murdered.”
Nevertheless, these stories, which 404 Media have described as “disturbing” and “hypersexual,” ended up being the channel’s downfall. The channel was nuked after being contacted by 404 Media for comment in January.
In a statement to 404 Media, YouTube said: “We terminated the channel in question for multiple violations of our Community Guidelines, including our policies covering child safety that prohibit the sexualization of minors.”
While the creator wants to appeal the ban, its reinstatement looks unlikely.
This isn’t the first time YouTube has tried to tackle AI-generated true crime. In 2024, the platform took action against creators of similar videos, which featured deepfakes of children. Still, despite all this, these AI-generated videos remain popular on TikTok. Should the platform follow suit, or is it just harmless entertainment?
