Yarra river 'milk boy' row explained: How Australian public united to report student prankster

Yarra milk prank, milk boy, giddynokiddy, most hated prank etc are among the top searches on Google Trends. Wonder why? Well, at the centre of the incident is an Australian boy, who decided to pour milk at random tourists enjoying boat rides in the Yarra river. The "prank" offended netizens after they surfaced online and the perpetrator, a school student, now finds himself in the middle of the storm.

For those interested in a deep dive, here is breaking down the story so far

The "milked" prank that angered Australia:

Yarra River is located in the Australian state of Victoria. On Monday, the boy who reportedly goes by the moniker “giddynokiddy” made videos public in which he was seen pouring milk on the public, mostly revellers. Standing on the Evan Walker Bridge in Southbank, the boy was seen spraying milk on tourists enjoying a boat ride below. The videos were reportedly shot on Saturday -- two days before he uploaded them. 

"You guys want some milk,” the youngster was seen asking a group of young women celebrating a birthday. Despite their dissent, he poured milk on them, leaving their garments and belongings including gadgets drenched, Australian media reports said.

Apart from the "prank videos" released by the perpetrator, the victims also posted online explaining how his act ruined the day for them.

A stroy put out by one of the boy's victims | Twitter

Backlash and call for action against the boy:

The public outrage escalated into an online campaign to ensure giddynokiddy's accounts got blocked. The organised online drive's objective was to encourage mass reporting of the videos and accounts to have them taken down, reports said. 

People used platforms like Reddit, TikTok and Instagram to let the world know what the prankster did, and pleaded with more and more people to report his profiles. As a result, the said prank videos were removed. All of giddynokiddy's social media posts apart from an Instagram post now been taken down, News.com.au said in a report.

More trouble for the boy as Police, school forced to act:

Following massive public outrage against the boy, the police had no choice but to interfere. On Tuesday, the Victoria Police issued a statement confirming that they were  “investigating after a number of people on a boat were sprayed with milk...” The department asked for the public's help to identify the prankster as soon as possible. 

A screenshot of giddynokiddy's prank video that was removed following outrage | Twitter

The same day, Melbourne Grammar School, a prestigious private school in Australia, confirmed that the boy was a student at the institution. Headmaster Philip Grutzner called his behaviour “completely unacceptable” in a statement and added that an investigation has been launched, 7news.com.au reported

No sorry but full of fury!

As the social media platforms started removing his content, the minor reportedly played the victim card -- criticising the cyber attack against him. "Police have phoned my parents, are you guys happy now? I have a criminal record now, never ever going to be able to live life. you happy?" 

"Why’d you do this to me. you ruin my life over a ruined day, you upped the anti, im just a kid and you ruined my life"

"Please stop contacting my school, my school has caught me and I am facing expulsion. Can’t believe you would do this to (a) minor" News.com.au reported the boy as stating across internet platforms. 

Clearly, there was not much remorse in his words. Victorians are waiting to see what happens next to the prankster.