Reddit Apologizes For Inadvertently Crowdsourcing Boston Bomber Investigation

Reddit’s role in the search for the Boston Marathon bombers was initially publicized in the days leading up to the death of Tamerlan Tsarnaev and the capture of his wounded brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev — and the FBI confirmed yesterday that activity on the site publicizing some evidence from the attacks forced their hands in the release of suspect images, the same day the site apologized for the interference and ensuing “witch hunt.”

Reddit’s apology came a few days after Tsarnaev was apprehended following a tense standoff at MIT, the death of MIT officer Sean Collier, and a lockdown of Boston — it seemed like social media activity may have influenced the decision to release the surveillance video of the Tsarnaevs, and now the Washington Post via The Atlantic confirms it did.

The latter explains that what we all witnessed on social media — Reddit, Twitter, Instagram and other sites — was as confusing and potentially dangerous as it appeared on first glance.

In a cacophonous casual investigation carried out via the web, the IDing of several unrelated people as well as the incorrect assumption missing student Sunil Tripathi was one of the bombing suspects forced the FBI to release the images — ostensibly sparking the events of Thursday night and Friday in Boston:

“Investigators were concerned that if they didn’t assert control over the release of the Tsarnaevs’ photos, their manhunt would become a chaotic free-for-all, with news media cars and helicopters, as well as online vigilante detectives, competing with police in the chase to find the suspects. By stressing that all information had to flow to 911 and official investigators, the FBI hoped to cut off that freelance sleuthing and attend to public safety even as they searched for the brothers.”

Now Reddit itself has weighed in on the strange role the powerful site (mainly via the now defunct subreddit r/findbostonbombers) had in the way the situation played out.

Reddit GM Erik Martin (hueypriest) reflected upon the developments in a blog post yesterday, saying in part:

“However, though started with noble intentions, some of the activity on reddit fueled online witch hunts and dangerous speculation which spiraled into very negative consequences for innocent parties. The reddit staff and the millions of people on reddit around the world deeply regret that this happened. We have apologized privately to the family of missing college student Sunil Tripathi, as have various users and moderators.”

Martin continues:

“We want to take this opportunity to apologize publicly for the pain they have had to endure. We hope that this painful event will be channeled into something positive and the increased awareness will lead to Sunil’s quick and safe return home. We encourage everyone to join and show your support to the Tripathi family and their search.”

It wasn’t just Reddit that got in on the “freelancing” in the search for the Boston bombers, however — which raises some interesting questions about how police and law enforcement agencies can prevent such situations in the future.

As the world watched the standoff and lockdown Friday, we here at The Inquisitr saw several tweeted images of SWAT teams perched on roofs and in yards. Police scanners topped hundreds of thousands of live listeners seeking updates fresher than those on broadcast news.

In essence, it isn’t so much Reddit or other sites caused the issue of social media interference in an ongoing investigation — rather, it illustrated that in a social media connected world, a crowdsourced investigation is indeed the new normal.

What will be interesting to see is how law enforcement handles the inevitable interference of the social web the next time around. Ultimately, can we really unring that bell?