True Crime Talking Point: Ethics Of True Crime - When Content Creators Go Too Far

True crime content straddles a fine line between storytelling and exploitation. At its best, it raises awareness, honours victims, and even contributes to public understanding of criminal behaviour. But increasingly, some creators cross ethical lines in the pursuit of clicks, views, or virality—using sensationalist thumbnails, dramatising trauma, or turning murder victims into aestheticised memes. At what point does true crime stop being informative and start being entertainment at the expense of real people?

The line is blurred further when creators insert themselves into narratives, speculate irresponsibly, or rehash traumatic details without regard for surviving family members. Are we witnessing a commodification of suffering? And if so, who is responsible: the creator, the audience, or the platform? Ethical true crime storytelling should centre on empathy, truth, and context—but in a monetised attention economy, that integrity is increasingly rare. Are we consuming stories or exploiting lives?