At Oktoberfest, thousands of people expect to be photographed.
They do not expect someone to deliberately film under their dirndl.
Yet that is exactly what investigators found around Munich’s famous Teufelsrad attraction.
Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that around 32,000 upskirting-style clips connected to Oktoberfest could be found on Meta platforms alone. Many showed women whose underwear became visible while they slipped or spun on the ride. Süddeutsche.de
Then BR24 went further.
Its investigation found people behind some of the accounts who were not simply uploading the clips for attention.
They were producing, distributing and selling them. Bayerischer Rundfunk
That changes the story completely.
This was not just bad behavior with a phone.
For some people, it became a business.
How Did This Become a Business?
BR24 identified several actors behind large collections of Teufelsrad footage, including people in Bavaria and YouTube professionals from Ukraine who allegedly used the videos to build account reach. One woman from Upper Bavaria said publicly that she had filmed more than 600 videos in 18 days at Oktoberfest. BR reported that she offered more than 500 unpublished videos for several hundred euros and claimed one video had generated €9,000 overnight. Bayerischer Rundfunk
That is the part most people never see.
A woman can go to Oktoberfest, ride an attraction, laugh with friends and go home.
Meanwhile, a stranger may have recorded an intimate angle, uploaded it, built an audience with it and turned it into money.
The person being filmed may never know.
Why Teufelsrad Is So Easy to Exploit
The Teufelsrad has existed at Oktoberfest for more than a century.
People sit or stand on a large rotating disc while it speeds up and throws riders outward.
For some women wearing dirndls or skirts, clothing can shift as they fall or slide.
That makes the attraction easy to film.
And modern phones, GoPros and long lenses make it easy to record repeatedly without immediately looking suspicious.
BR reporters said they observed people filming multiple rounds with phones and GoPros during this year’s Oktoberfest without always being stopped by staff. They also reported that new clips from 2026 appeared online almost immediately. Bayerischer Rundfunk
So the problem is not only old footage.
It is still happening.
Isn’t This Illegal?
Yes.
German criminal law specifically covers unauthorized images of someone’s genitals, buttocks, breasts or underwear when those areas are protected from view.
Under Section 184k of the German Criminal Code, making, using or sharing such recordings without authorization can result in a fine or up to two years in prison. Gesetze im Internet
Police are actively enforcing it.
During this year’s Oktoberfest, Munich police detained a 39-year-old man after officers saw him secretly filming under a 34-year-old woman’s dirndl near the Schottenhamel tent. Süddeutsche.de
So the law exists.
The bigger problem is scale.
The Platforms Are Part of the Story
This kind of content becomes profitable only because it can reach huge audiences.
The clips appeared on platforms such as:
YouTube,
Instagram,
Facebook,
TikTok,
and other sites.
After BR contacted the major platforms, Google, Meta and TikTok said they removed videos or accounts that violated their rules. Bayerischer Rundfunk
But that raises an uncomfortable question:
Why did it take investigative journalists to trigger some of those removals?
If tens of thousands of similar clips can circulate for years, then moderation is clearly reacting after the fact.
And once a video is copied, downloaded or resold, deleting the original upload may not remove it from the internet.
This Is Bigger Than Oktoberfest
The real issue is not only one Munich attraction.
It is that smartphones have made voyeuristic filming almost frictionless.
A person can:
record anonymously,
upload instantly,
build followers,
monetize views,
sell private collections,
and disappear behind multiple accounts.
That creates a market where the person being exploited may never know there was a market at all.
And once people learn that certain public places generate profitable footage, the incentive grows.
That is the “behind the headline” part of this story.
The scandal is not simply that people filmed under women’s skirts.
The scandal is that an attention economy formed around it.
What This Means for Visitors
For women attending large festivals, concerts or crowded public events, the uncomfortable reality is that being in public does not mean every camera angle is fair game.
If someone appears to be repeatedly filming low angles, following riders with a camera or aiming a device between people’s legs, that is worth reporting immediately to security or police.
At Oktoberfest, staff at Teufelsrad say signs warn visitors that upskirting is a criminal offense and that police are called when there is suspicion. Bayerischer Rundfunk
But prevention also has to come from organizers and platforms.
Visitors should not be expected to police thousands of cameras themselves.
Bottom Line
What happened at Oktoberfest is more serious than a few creepy videos.
Investigations found tens of thousands of voyeuristic clips, and some people behind them were not simply posting for attention — they were building audiences, monetizing accounts and selling collections of footage. Süddeutsche.de
Germany already has laws that can punish this behavior.
The weak point is enforcement at scale.
If organizers stop suspicious filming quickly and platforms remove this material before accounts can profit from it, the incentive shrinks.
But if people can film hundreds of women, build huge audiences and sell the footage before anyone intervenes, then the law is arriving after the business model has already worked.
For ordinary visitors, that is the real problem:
you can be turned into online content — and even a product — without ever knowing it happened.
Sources
BR24 — Oktoberfest: Wer hinter voyeuristischen Teufelsrad-Videos steckt
Investigation into who produced, distributed and sold Teufelsrad videos, including paid collections and monetized accounts. Bayerischer Rundfunk
Süddeutsche Zeitung — Zehntausende Upskirting-Videos vom Oktoberfest
Reported around 32,000 such clips on Meta platforms and documented the scale of the phenomenon. Süddeutsche.de
German Criminal Code — Section 184k
German law on unauthorized intimate-area images, including making and sharing such recordings. Gesetze im Internet
Süddeutsche Zeitung — Oktoberfest police incidents
Recent case in which police detained a man for secretly filming under a woman’s dirndl.