By Theophilus Chibuzo Oliver
As concerns about online privacy and consent continue to grow, a student of the University of Benin has accused a recent graduate of the institution of secretly recording her and uploading the footage to TikTok without her permission, sparking legal and ethical discussions within the university community.
The incident reportedly occurred on 14 October 2025, at about 4 p.m., near Festus Iyayi Hall.
Speaking with ACJ UNIBEN, Miss Victoria Ebadan recounted that she was walking towards the Faculty of Life Sciences when a young man approached her and initiated a conversation. According to her, “He walked past me, stopped, and asked me to wait. He then asked if I was familiar with places on campus. I asked where exactly he was looking for, and he replied, ‘Where I can get your number,’ which I found funny and laughed.”
Miss Ebadan said she walked away, clearly demonstrating that she was not interested in continuing the conversation. However, the man followed her, asking further questions about her name and how her day was going. “I told him my name was Victoria and walked away. As I was leaving, he said, ‘Take good care,’ not knowing he was recording me with his smart glasses,” she added.
The footage was later uploaded to TikTok by the user ‘David Greene’ with the caption, “Not every laugh guarantees chasin’…”. The video quickly attracted attention and generated a series of derogatory comments from viewers.
Miss Ebadan said she became aware of the video when a friend informed her about it. She later confronted the individual during her sign-out celebration on 17 October 2025, demanding that he take down the post or face legal action. “He initially claimed that he was within his rights, but as people gathered around, he eventually agreed to delete it,” she said. However, he reportedly failed to comply with other demands issued through her legal counsel.
Following legal consultation, a formal letter was sent to the accused, outlining several demands. The letter required that he immediately and permanently remove the said video from his TikTok account, @davis_greene001, and from any other platform where it had been uploaded, with written confirmation of compliance within 24 hours. It further demanded that he provide a written undertaking not to publish or republish the video, any portion of it, or any other video of Miss Ebadan without her express written consent.
In addition, the accused was instructed to issue a written apology acknowledging the distress caused by his actions, to be posted in a mutually agreed manner—such as a pinned post on his TikTok account. He was also asked to confirm whether the video had been shared, downloaded, or reposted by others, and to outline the steps he had taken to ensure its removal from all platforms.
The accused has reportedly deleted the video but has not fulfilled the other demands. Miss Ebadan stated that she intends to pursue further legal action should he fail to comply fully.
When ACJ UNIBEN reached out to the accused individual for his response, he did not reply to messages seeking his side of the story as at the time of filing this report.
The incident has reignited conversations on digital consent and online ethics, with students and media advocates stressing the need to seek explicit permission before recording or sharing images and videos of others on social media platforms.