From RationalWiki

Takedownman is a YouTuber who pretends to be an expert hacker and "pedophile hunter" and produces videos about the secrets of the Deep Web, aka the Dark Web . To be fair, even respectable journalists can get taken in by stories of human trafficking.[1]

He uses trappings of an investigative journalist style, often warning his viewer at length about the disturbing sites and images they are about to witness. He then proceeds to narrate over a series of screenshots of Tor hidden services about esoteric material.

However, he has been ridiculed[citation needed] by many genuine hackers who claim he has an extremely poor understanding of hacking and the Dark Web, making such basic mistakes as getting infected with viruses by friends and thinking computers can get "Worm Holes".[citation needed] Furthermore, his claim that he has special privileges by the FBI to seek out child pornography (to catch pedophiles) is not consistent with U.S. state or federal law.

In addition to making YouTube videos, Takedownman also campaigns on crowd-funding websites such as Gofundme.com in order to secure payments from his followers to support his "work".

Many are skeptical of Takedownman's grandiose claims about himself, such as his being a CIA agent, an expert in "Chinese healing", and a 'hitman.'[2] In true crank fashion, Takedownman and several YouTube followers have claimed that anyone who doubts his authenticity is a "pedophile".[3]

Background [ edit ]

From about March 2013 Takedownman began producing online content discussing polygamy in the context of the gay marriage debate. At this time he was running a polygamy resources site at societypl.com which has since closed. He has 2 wives.

He claims to have stabbed a pedophile in New York and spent time in jail for this.[4] as well as to have spent some time in jail around May 2013 for threatening someone with a gun.[5]

Timeline of coverage [ edit ]

Fabrications [ edit ]

Takedownman is known to fabricate his personal life, "third-party" reviews, web pages and addresses on the Internet that support and promote his sensationalist life and claims.

For instance, he "exposed" a Dark Web website (which was actually the site Keep Calm-o-Matic) that was selling merchandise containing a supposed still image from the child rape video "Daisy's Destruction", which showed a dismembered little girl on a blood-soaked bed. The still image, which is actually taken from the Japanese horror film Ginî piggu 2: Chiniku no hana, and not from "Daisy's Destruction", was found to have been placed on the merchandise by Takedownman himself.[10]

In another example, on September 8th 2015 he published a video showing multiple implausible or incorrect .onion addresses on his web browser. He displays ClearWeb sites in their place, as listed:

He has stated numerous times that the name "TakeDownMan" comes from his street fighting days but in this YouTube comment he states that TakeDownMan represents a letter of each of the 11 members of the Deep Web Outlaws. Which one is it? He doesn't even know the origin of his name.

When his channel was suspended in September, TakeDownMan claims in this YouTube comment that he doesn't make any money off the 100K subscription channel, and that he has another channel on another platform which is more popular (but nobody knows it's him) from which he earns more money.

Wiki self-promotion [ edit ]

In his June video he read the 'extraordinary claims' made on a deep-web.wikia.com/wiki/Takedownman on the same day he launched his spreadshirt shop which include:

Used to fight MMA

Is Illuminati, CIA, NSA, MI5, etc.

Trained as an assassin in the army

Multiple academic awards

Member of the Cult of the dead cow hacking group

hacking group Started a vigilante group called the 'Deep Web Outlaws' a.k.a. 'Deep Web Pedophiles'.

Claims in this YouTube comment to have recently left a cult that called themselves "Anabaptist", it was discovered "not true" and determined to be a cover.

However, the revision featured in his video as well as the 'unrelated' comments saying HOLY SHIT!!!! I knew this guy was a bad ass but HOLY SHIT! are from 68.53.245.44. Which is located in Tennessee where TDM lives.

"Testimony" on Red Rooms [ edit ]

See the main article on this topic: Red Room

Takedownman doesn't shy away from presenting rumour of Red Rooms as first hand fact in one of his few interviews on the 15th of August:[17]

VGN: Can you tell us what exactly is a red room?

TDM: Yes. It is a portal that requires specific access to watch and even participate during a live feed showing torture, rape and murder.

VGN: Who are these victims? Where did these site owners locate the victims?

TDM: The victims can be babies, teens, women, men – whatever the audience wants. The victims can be teen runaways who were lured by these organizations. They also tend to target homeless women and families by offering a good life for their kids. So, they pay the families, take the babies promising a good life, and end up in horrible situations such as a red room.

VGN: People pay to watch these live streams?

TDM: Yes. Take for an example someone entering a red room. The host tells them five minimum commands before the victim can be killed. Each guest can pay, for example, $10,000 per command. All bitcoin.

Complete fabrication.

He has been skeptically referenced by Vice as a someone who claims to have inside knowledge of the other Deep Web legends such as 'Dafu Love'.[18]

Rebuttals and counter-trolling [ edit ]

On the 23rd of August he complains about being Doxxed by someone from 8chan and from this point onwards he was having to more aggressively deal with trolling on his video #Fan_meetups

One such claim was he regularly attends fan meetups where he hires private security to deal with the random attacks he gets.[4] However no evidence of these meetups existing has ever been produced.

On the 17th of September he responded to a site where a girl was claiming to masturbate then kill herself online, blaming Takedownman, however he realised this was a hoax at this point possibly produced by someone on 8chan. The site at vlr2s4g732zw6yim.onion has since been replaced by a one-page Islamist site.

Jim Greenway [ edit ]

Prior to his account's termination, Jim Greenway had run a number of videos pointing out inconsistencies and insecurities in TDM's content starting with an initial 8chan rebuttal video

Comments included:

TakeDownMan, Once again I invite you to a Skype debate where we can talk about your legitimacy as a self proclaimed pedophile hunter. Regardless of if you're a TDM fan or a JGS subscriber, anyone should support this. TDM has no reason not to get in a Skype call with me and deliver me some of that sweet DWO justice. So let's make this happen. We can even do it live for all of your fans! They will love to see you in action.

However this wasn't received well from TDM:

So this what is all about still? A collab? I don't collab with pedos, better luck next time

The follow up was:

+Takedownman It's not a collab. That would suggest that we are working together to create something. This is a debate. You an I both know that I'm not a pedophile so don't even try to make that excuse. Stand up for yourself and quit being a fucking coward. Face the heat and address the legitimate criticisms of your videos.

TDM basically says 'fight me bro' in response to this.

This rivalry escalated to the point that Jim was mocking TDM's alleged abuse at the hands of a pastor, leading to Jim's account being terminated.