VidCon Increases Security in Wake of Florida Shootings
- By Sydny Shepard
- Jun 14, 2016
On Friday, June 10, Christina Gimmie was shot and killed by a gunman after her show at The Plaza Live in Orlando. Gimmie got her start by creating videos showcasing her talent and uploading them to YouTube before she became a popular Voice contestant.
The shooting is a rude awakening to those who put their talents on the internet for all to see, and VidCon, a conference for content creators on social media sites like, YouTube, Vine and Instagram, to meet their fans, is calling for extra security to keep both creators and fans safe.
VidCon announced extra security in a statement they released on their Tumblr account June 14. Event officials have added additional law enforcement, as well as undercover police officers to secure the conference, more than doubling the amount of officers in attendance to 450.
Those attending will be subject to random bag checks during the three-day conference and it will also be mandatory for attendees to pass through metal detectors before meeting creators at meet and greets. Attendees will no longer be able to approach creators after panels.
The conference is also adding perimeter barriers around the conference center in an effort to keep those who do not have badges out of the event.
“This sucks; obviously, we don’t want to build a wall between creators and their communities, but it is unfortunately necessary.” The statement reads. “As in all years we want VidCon to be fun, but you can’t have fun without being safe, and the VidCon Team is committed to making sure that everyone’s safety is the number one priority.”
See VidCon’s full statement below:
About the Author
Sydny Shepard is the Executive Editor of Campus Security & Life Safety.