Stalking & Harassment on Smule

[[Member RaSh…]]

So, I was subjected to serious harassment by an unknown person who was badmouthing about me because I rejected his indecent proposal. I kept deleting and creating new accounts to lose trail, but he ended up finding me.  
The current one is my 4th ID and I decided to stand up for myself and fight. 

My question is - when you flag an account for harassment, can Smule not trace the IP address and ban any activity from the address thereafter?!

[[Member Duet…]]

@RaShMee So sorry to hear that. I notice that a lot of good women singers stop posting in Smule, most likely for similar reasons.

See here for previous discussions on this topic. I think Smule considers this as a law and order issue to be taken up with the local cops. 

Smule can and should be doing more to block such users. To answer your specific question, IP address can change frequently and need not be associated with just that one user. Smule can block it for a few days or so, but not permanently. 

Edited February 13 by Duets.fm

[[Member RaSh…]]

@Duets.fm Thanks for replying… I had really hoped for more… 

[Guest]

Unfortunately , getting rid of somebody who wants to stalk you and keep finding you on smule is difficult. You can keep flagging and blocking their accounts and they just keep creating new accounts. I've had similar problems with women that I've had to block over the years. Trying to stalk me from different accounts and send me messages. Especially when they see that I have a new girlfriend.

[[Member RaSh…]]

On 2/24/2024 at 2:26 AM, h____1 said:

Unfortunately , getting rid of somebody who wants to stalk you and keep finding you on smule is difficult. You can keep flagging and blocking their accounts and they just keep creating new accounts. I've had similar problems with women that I've had to block over the years. Trying to stalk me from different accounts and send me messages. Especially when they see that I have a new girlfriend.

Sorry to know you’ve had this unpleasant experience too.

Cyberstalking is getting rampant now that most people live perhaps 75% of their “social life” online 🙄 In this day and age, I am surprised social platforms don’t have robust means of tackling this crime effectively! They perhaps could actually do something about these stalkers, but then they would have to come clean about how much information they actually have about users. Now what money-making business would want to divulge that info about their own platform?!

I have been taking screenshots of all the lewd messages I get, the defaming comments, the multiple IDs created to hide behind etc etc etc, in the hope that one day it’ll help nail this person. I have even started noticing a pattern, the language, the connections and links to each ID they create… it drives me mad sometimes! I am just so desperate for some help🤷🏻‍♀️ 🙆🏻‍♀️

[[Member Isa_…]]

4 hours ago, RaShMee said:

Sorry to know you’ve had this unpleasant experience too.

Cyberstalking is getting rampant now that most people live perhaps 75% of their “social life” online 🙄 In this day and age, I am surprised social platforms don’t have robust means of tackling this crime effectively! They perhaps could actually do something about these stalkers, but then they would have to come clean about how much information they actually have about users. Now what money-making business would want to divulge that info about their own platform?!

I have been taking screenshots of all the lewd messages I get, the defaming comments, the multiple IDs created to hide behind etc etc etc, in the hope that one day it’ll help nail this person. I have even started noticing a pattern, the language, the connections and links to each ID they create… it drives me mad sometimes! I am just so desperate for some help🤷🏻‍♀️ 🙆🏻‍♀️

If I were you.... just ignore (don't read the comments) delete it,  block the person and just keep on blocking.... you cant do anything if people wants to annoy you this is a social media.. 

[[Member Roge…]]

13 hours ago, RaShMee said:

Sorry to know you’ve had this unpleasant experience too.

Cyberstalking is getting rampant now that most people live perhaps 75% of their “social life” online 🙄 In this day and age, I am surprised social platforms don’t have robust means of tackling this crime effectively! They perhaps could actually do something about these stalkers, but then they would have to come clean about how much information they actually have about users. Now what money-making business would want to divulge that info about their own platform?!

I have been taking screenshots of all the lewd messages I get, the defaming comments, the multiple IDs created to hide behind etc etc etc, in the hope that one day it’ll help nail this person. I have even started noticing a pattern, the language, the connections and links to each ID they create… it drives me mad sometimes! I am just so desperate for some help🤷🏻‍♀️ 🙆🏻‍♀️

Of course, the Smule team is capable of tracing their IP addresses and can also block them permanently, but they are not going to do that for you. Their intention is to let people create new accounts as many as they can so they could earn more money. That's the point.

[[Member RaSh…]]

9 hours ago, Isa_Bella said:

If I were you.... just ignore (don't read the comments) delete it,  block the person and just keep on blocking.... you cant do anything if people wants to annoy you this is a social media.. 

Did that, doing that, will continue doing that… 

[[Member RaSh…]]

51 minutes ago, Rogerlococo2020 said:

Of course, the Smule team is capable of tracing their IP addresses and can also block them permanently, but they are not going to do that for you. Their intention is to let people create new accounts as many as they can so they could earn more money. That's the point.

But you don’t have to create a VIP account to simply troll people and comment rubbish on their collabs 🤷🏻‍♀️ 

How does Smule gain from non-vip accounts?! 🤔

[[Member open…]]

1 hour ago, Rogerlococo2020 said:

Of course, the Smule team is capable of tracing their IP addresses and can also block them permanently, but they are not going to do that for you. Their intention is to let people create new accounts as many as they can so they could earn more money. That's the point.

As others have mentioned before, IP addresses are not permanently tied to any specific user, so blocking them permanently achieves very little. The stalker can just use a new IP address.

The claim that it’s about “earning money” also doesn’t make much sense. A stalker creating many accounts doesn’t earn Smule more money. Quite the opposite! One troll or stalker can ruin the Smule experience for all the users they are harassing and those might then stop using Smule. So, Smule is actually more likely to loose money. There is nothing to benefit from bad actors here. And that’s why Smule is constantly banning accounts and they have many automatic systems to limit bad actions on the app. Sure, one could look at an individual case and conclude they have not done enough, but the idea that they deliberate do nothing for nefarious purposes is just not reasonable. 

[[Member open…]]

10 hours ago, Isa_Bella said:

If I were you.... just ignore (don't read the comments)

I agree. It’s the old internet saying “Don’t feed the troll”. Their goal is to provoke actions and they are desperately looking for them. Only if none of their actions achieve anything, they will loose interest in continuing. 

[[Member ItsM…]]

I am sorry that you are going through this. Smule needs to make verification mandatory at different levels. Email as first level then followed by phone number. Each way, they can send a OTP to verify your email and phone. But Smule doesn't require these right now, at least it didn't ask me these. So, the system is open to anonymous abuse. They should at least make this mandatory for a basic user regardless of a vip status. This is also why I don't trust the yellow tick or "verified" badge that Smule introduced. If they really want to consider a user as verified, they can ask them to provide their identification details like driver's license (as in the USA) or any other form of identity based on country of registration. This is how YouTube requires and verifies a channel if they want to do live videos or monetize. That way, they know whom they are paying for and take any action if live relay didn't go well for some reason.

[[Member RaSh…]]

2 minutes ago, ItsMeRKSinger said:

I am sorry that you are going through this. Smule needs to make verification mandatory at different levels. Email as first level then followed by phone number. Each way, they can send a OTP to verify your email and phone. But Smule doesn't require these right now, at least it didn't ask me these. So, the system is open to anonymous abuse. They should at least make this mandatory for a basic user regardless of a vip status. This is also why I don't trust the yellow tick or "verified" badge that Smule introduced. If they really want to consider a user as verified, they can ask them to provide their identification details like driver's license (as in the USA) or any other form of identity based on country of registration. This is how YouTube requires and verifies a channel if they want to do live videos or monetize. That way, they know whom they are paying for and take any action if live relay didn't go well for some reason.

Oh yes, that would also be kind of a deterrent for the user to commit such crimes. 

[[Member Roge…]]

6 hours ago, RaShMee said:

But you don’t have to create a VIP account to simply troll people and comment rubbish on their collabs 🤷🏻‍♀️ 

How does Smule gain from non-vip accounts?! 🤔

Once you create a new Smule account, Smule will provide you with free VIP access for about 7 days. Smule encourages many people to create accounts because all the accounts have a chance to become VIP, allowing them to increase their opportunities to earn money.

How does Smule benefit from non-VIP accounts?

All non-VIP accounts have a chance to become VIP.

It's easy to understand! 🤣

[[Member RaSh…]]

20 minutes ago, Rogerlococo2020 said:

Once you create a new Smule account, Smule will provide you with free VIP access for about 7 days. Smule encourages many people to create accounts because all the accounts have a chance to become VIP, allowing them to increase their opportunities to earn money.

How does Smule benefit from non-VIP accounts?

All non-VIP accounts have a chance to become VIP.

It's easy to understand! 🤣

It doesn’t work like that. I have had to change my ID by registering with different e-mails thrice, so I know from experience. Smule doesn’t give a 7 day free VIP.

My understanding is-

One only gets to sing ONLY 1 FREE SONG as a SOLO, after they register & create a Smule account. Thereafter, they can continue to enjoy singing for free BUT only DUETS - that too by joining others’ invites.

If one wants to sing further songs as a SOLO, or open an invite as a DUET from their own profile for others to join them, they MUST pay and become VIP users.

[[Member Duet…]]

I think Smule has a different deal for each country, including how much they charge for a VIP subscription. 

[[Member RaSh…]]

6 minutes ago, Duets.fm said:

I think Smule has a different deal for each country, including how much they charge for a VIP subscription. 

I agree the charges are different. But different deals? That doesn’t seem fair…

[[Member RaSh…]]

7 hours ago, opentype said:

As others have mentioned before, IP addresses are not permanently tied to any specific user, so blocking them permanently achieves very little. The stalker can just use a new IP address.

The claim that it’s about “earning money” also doesn’t make much sense. A stalker creating many accounts doesn’t earn Smule more money. Quite the opposite! One troll or stalker can ruin the Smule experience for all the users they are harassing and those might then stop using Smule. So, Smule is actually more likely to loose money. There is nothing to benefit from bad actors here. And that’s why Smule is constantly banning accounts and they have many automatic systems to limit bad actions on the app. Sure, one could look at an individual case and conclude they have not done enough, but the idea that they deliberate do nothing for nefarious purposes is just not reasonable. 

I didn’t know IP addresses aren’t permanently tied to a person! Is that the case even if they continue to use the same 5-6 mobile phones they must own?! 
Given the speed with which they reappear with a different ID - like within 5 minutes of blocking one ID, they would appear with another new one! 
So I am assuming they have several instruments - laptops / desktops / tablets / mobile phones and of course several e-Mail accounts!

[[Member open…]]

38 minutes ago, RaShMee said:

So I am assuming they have several instruments - laptops / desktops / tablets / mobile phones and of course several e-Mail accounts!

The IP address only identifies the internet connection, not the devices. People can just use a VPN service for example to hide their actual IP address. It’s very common and also used for legitimate reasons. 

[[Member RaSh…]]

5 minutes ago, opentype said:

The IP address only identifies the internet connection, not the devices. People can just use a VPN service for example to hide their actual IP address. It’s very common and also used for legitimate reasons. 

Hmmm… that’s a difficult one then 🤷🏻‍♀️

thanks for responding 😇

[[Member Isa_…]]

16 hours ago, RaShMee said:

Did that, doing that, will continue doing that… 

Perfect... Don't let these people ruin your life in Smule just enjoy singing.. Don't show them that you are upset because you satisfied there fangs.. so the best weapon is "IGNORE" 

[[Member Isa_…]]

15 hours ago, opentype said:

I agree. It’s the old internet saying “Don’t feed the troll”. Their goal is to provoke actions and they are desperately looking for them. Only if none of their actions achieve anything, they will loose interest in continuing. 

Correct... Coz I've done it myself... in the end they lose interest of you..