{"id":31193,"date":"2026-08-07T15:08:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T10:08:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=31193"},"modified":"2026-08-07T15:08:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T10:08:30","slug":"inside-tiktok-as-the-perez-hilton-livestream-unfolded-a-timeline-of-moderating-a-graphic-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=31193","title":{"rendered":"Inside TikTok As the Perez Hilton Livestream Unfolded: A Timeline of Moderating a Graphic Event"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"has-dropcap body dropcap\">For around 15 minutes on Tuesday night, blogger <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/style\/2020\/10\/perez-hilton-john-mayer-2007-make-out-jessica-simpson-reaction\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"text link\">Perez Hilton<\/a> livestreamed on TikTok with a bloody torso and a knife in hand. He seemed to be harming himself.<\/p>\n<p>TikTok&#8217;s AI moderation flagged the stream within minutes, sending it to a human moderator. That person determined the video should be removed, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/style\/2020\/07\/not-so-bored-in-the-house-with-tiktok\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"text link\">TikTok<\/a> US spokesperson, but experienced technical difficulties while taking the stream down. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/tiktok-says-moderator-error-kept-perez-hilton-livestream-on-platform\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"text link\"><em>Wired<\/em> spoke to a spokesman<\/a> who called it a \u201cmoderator error,\u201d but the company further elaborated to <em>Vanity Fair<\/em> that the moderator was hit with an \u201cerror\u201d message when attempting to take it down.) Hilton was persistent, the spokesperson told <em>VF<\/em>, and he broadcast himself on several different streams.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">Miami law enforcement received multiple calls about the incident\u2014including one from the TikTok moderation team, the spokesperson says\u2014and arrived at Hilton\u2019s house to find him alone. The fire rescue team then transferred him to a local hospital to receive medical attention, per a statement from the police.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">Hilton\u2019s family posted an update on his website Wednesday afternoon. \u201cWe can confirm that Perez is receiving medical care,\u201d <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/perezhilton.com\/perez-hilton-health-update\/\" class=\"external-link text link\" data-event-click=\"{&quot;element&quot;:&quot;ExternalLink&quot;,&quot;outgoingURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/perezhilton.com\/perez-hilton-health-update\/&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/perezhilton.com\/perez-hilton-health-update\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">they wrote<\/a>, \u201cand our family\u2019s focus right now is on his well-being.\u201d Born Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr., Hilton has three children but was reportedly home alone at the time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">It\u2019s not the first graphic livestream aired on social media platforms, where users have broadcast real-time footage of mass shootings and deaths by suicide. But the 15 minutes it took to take down Hilton\u2019s video underscores a problem that social media companies have been grappling with for years: How can you moderate something happening right now?<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">Livestreaming went mainstream in 2015, when Facebook rolled out its livestreaming feature. Moderation has always been a \u201creally big challenge,\u201d says Robyn Caplan, an assistant professor of technology policy at Duke University. In the early days, platforms often relied on users to flag inappropriate posts and human moderators to parse through potential violations. This was an incredibly intensive job, one that pushed many workers to their mental limits. In the last decade, numerous former moderators have <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/www.impactfund.org\/social-justice-blog\/scola-v-facebook\" class=\"external-link text link\" data-event-click=\"{&quot;element&quot;:&quot;ExternalLink&quot;,&quot;outgoingURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.impactfund.org\/social-justice-blog\/scola-v-facebook&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.impactfund.org\/social-justice-blog\/scola-v-facebook\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">filed<\/a> lawsuits claiming they suffered trauma from spending long hours watching the worst of human behavior.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">These early moderation efforts failed to stop many violent livestreams before they proliferated online. Broadcasts depicted men <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/abc7.com\/post\/covina-suspect-shoots-at-deputies-while-recording-facebook-live\/1853113\/\" class=\"external-link text link\" data-event-click=\"{&quot;element&quot;:&quot;ExternalLink&quot;,&quot;outgoingURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/abc7.com\/post\/covina-suspect-shoots-at-deputies-while-recording-facebook-live\/1853113\/&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/abc7.com\/post\/covina-suspect-shoots-at-deputies-while-recording-facebook-live\/1853113\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">shooting at police<\/a> and a 12-year-old <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/the-intersect\/wp\/2017\/01\/15\/a-12-year-old-girl-live-streamed-her-suicide-it-took-two-weeks-for-facebook-to-take-the-video-down\/\" class=\"external-link text link\" data-event-click=\"{&quot;element&quot;:&quot;ExternalLink&quot;,&quot;outgoingURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/the-intersect\/wp\/2017\/01\/15\/a-12-year-old-girl-live-streamed-her-suicide-it-took-two-weeks-for-facebook-to-take-the-video-down\/&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/the-intersect\/wp\/2017\/01\/15\/a-12-year-old-girl-live-streamed-her-suicide-it-took-two-weeks-for-facebook-to-take-the-video-down\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">taking her own life<\/a>. The latter video, from 2016, was up for nearly two weeks before Facebook removed it.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"AssetEmbedWrapper-iJvQnD cOWUYC asset-embed\">\n<div class=\"AssetEmbedAssetContainer-fnduJP iaVSwI asset-embed__asset-container\"><span class=\"SpanWrapper-kFnjvc eKnjjD responsive-asset AssetEmbedResponsiveAsset-gaAbQ hXaxHA asset-embed__responsive-asset\"><picture class=\"ResponsiveImagePicture-jKunQM gjCCFj AssetEmbedResponsiveAsset-gaAbQ hXaxHA asset-embed__responsive-asset responsive-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Image may contain Perez Hilton Spencer Pratt Heidi Montag Clothing Coat Jacket Blazer Fashion Adult and Person\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"ResponsiveImageContainer-dkeESL cQPiWi responsive-image__image\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a74d28280238c0ef0f1ae73\/master\/w_120,c_limit\/620226556 120w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a74d28280238c0ef0f1ae73\/master\/w_240,c_limit\/620226556 240w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a74d28280238c0ef0f1ae73\/master\/w_320,c_limit\/620226556 320w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a74d28280238c0ef0f1ae73\/master\/w_640,c_limit\/620226556 640w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a74d28280238c0ef0f1ae73\/master\/w_768,c_limit\/620226556 768w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a74d28280238c0ef0f1ae73\/master\/w_960,c_limit\/620226556 960w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a74d28280238c0ef0f1ae73\/master\/w_1280,c_limit\/620226556 1280w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a74d28280238c0ef0f1ae73\/master\/w_1600,c_limit\/620226556 1600w\" sizes=\"100vw\" src=\"https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a74d28280238c0ef0f1ae73\/master\/w_1600%2Cc_limit\/620226556\"\/><\/picture><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"CaptionWrapper-bpPcvW kzGGxb caption AssetEmbedCaption-eZIMNW gMgneI asset-embed__caption\" data-testid=\"caption-wrapper\"><span class=\"BaseText-fEwdHD CaptionText-cQpRdU klhnDX hbiMYj caption__text\"><\/p>\n<p>Hilton became a fixture on the entertainment circuit in the 2000s after his celebrity gossip site took off.<\/p>\n<p><\/span><span class=\"BaseText-fEwdHD CaptionCredit-cUgOGk gsdIcD hRFzlA caption__credit\">Patrick McMullan\/Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For around 15 minutes on Tuesday night, blogger Perez Hilton livestreamed on TikTok with a bloody torso and a knife in hand. He seemed to be harming himself. TikTok&#8217;s AI moderation flagged the stream within minutes, sending it to a human moderator. That person determined the video should be removed, according to a TikTok US&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a73a6f065fcd56c370e85fe\/16:9\/w_1280,c_limit\/2246294769","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-gossip"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}