A small clip from an alleged interview with the man behind smartschoolboy9 has appeared online, but viewers are split over whether or not it’s real.
On August 25, Nick Crowley took a deep dive into one of Instagram’s darkest rabbit holes: smartschoolboy9 and its network of disturbing accounts.
Against Crowley’s wishes, people have been trying to contact the man behind the notorious profile (which resulted in a troubling sighting). His name hasn’t been confirmed, but two names have been associated with the account: David Alter and David London, both believed to be from Doncaster, UK.
Now, YouTuber Eterna claims they’ve been able to not only get in touch with ‘David’, but interview him too, and they’ve posted a clip online.
“Even the harsh topics, we should not disregard them… any topic that offends people,” he says, and Eterna asks: “But David, should there not be a limit between expression and pure evil?”
“Evil is a subjective topic,” the man replies, adding: “Society has chosen what evil is, and we have accepted it… nobody is allowed take my individuality, I will not be told what is right or wrong.”
Here’s the thing: Eterna only has 27 subscribers. There’s no way to verify that this is a real interview with smartschoolboy9, despite people defending the creator and urging that it’s genuine.
The caption of the video reads: “I am being told I am not allowed to post this full video. Which is 14 minutes long. I have to resort to posting this short clip where I speak with ‘David’ who goes by ‘David London’ on Facebook. He is also known by many as smartschoolboy9.
“This is the first interview with him made public. We discuss poetry and he goes into detail about his childhood. Again, I am needing confirmation to post the whole thing.”
Many people have been left unconvinced by the clip, believing it’s somebody pretending to be ‘David’ for clout.
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“You’d have to be gullible as fuck to fall for this, [just saying],” one user commented. “People actually believing this is him is what’s wrong with not only this Reddit, but this world,” another wrote.
“I just listened again, it is not the same voice as the one in truth_sticks_11 from what I can hear,” a third commented, citing one of smartschoolboy9’s alleged accounts. “Why wouldn’t he just post the full interview? Impossible to tell if it is real or not in a short clip like this,” a fourth asked.
According to one user, David “doxxed himself during the interview a few times. He could easily censor those segments but they’re crucial for the investigation.”
“Once he gets permission he’s going to upload the full thing. I personally believe it’s the real thing,” they added.
The case’s subreddit has been inundated with posts since the video went viral. It’s hard to keep track of the facts, so this is what we actually know: the main account, which has since been taken down, was operated by an adult man who dressed in a tight school uniform.
It’s believed he also operated (and maybe still runs) other accounts with unsettling, warped, and explicit imagery of children, many of which interacted with each other.
While it’s also been said that he’s under investigation, South Yorkshire Police told Dexerto: “We can neither confirm nor deny the name of a person who may or may not be or have been the subject of a South Yorkshire Police investigation.”
We’ve broken down if smartschoolboy9 has ever been arrested and everything else about the case, including the mask theory and tech experts’ warning to people trying to track him down. Also check out our list of the creepiest YouTube documentaries to watch next, including Crowley’s Pipergate doc.