Engineered Public Confessions in Fan Works.
Crossovers
- In The Faith Chronicles, after Kennedy brainwashes Willow into attacking Faith (to make it even worse, she was sent after a five-year-old clone of Faith who legitimately hadn't done anything), Buffy confronts Kennedy with Jack O’Neill’s phone in her pocket set to record to get Kennedy's confession. Once Kennedy confirms that she tried to have Faith killed on the orders of the Watcher's Council, Kennedy is zatted and taken to prison in Area 51 by the SGC, with the Prime Minister confirming that he will have key members of the Watcher’s Council arrested for their role in the attack on Faith.
- Blackjack engineers a public confession in Fallout: Equestria - Project Horizons in order to expose Ahuizotl as a traitor to the rest of Meatlocker. Ahuizotl, however, is smart enough to realize what's going on, and activates the rooms's hidden booby traps.Ahuizotl: What? You don't seriously think I'd believe you'd want to do business with me? You're the saint of the Wasteland. I'm sure you're just here to chat up some evidence to take back to those morons. Probably got that PipBuck recording this whole conversation, don't you?
Blackjack: Darn. You figured me out. Well, except for one thing. My PipBuck? It's a broadcaster.
(Cue Meatlocker's citizens opening the door.) - I'm Nobody: In order to make Dr. Bumby confess the crimes he has commited against Alice's family and the rest of the children at the psychiatric yard, she borrows an Omnitool from Axel, Roxas, and Xion, and confronts him alone. She records Dr. Bumby's entire Evil Gloating as he brags about how nobody will believe a mentally ill girl over him who is a respected doctor while he clearly spells out his crimes. Axel then knocks him out, they give the recording to the police while passing it as experimental technology, and while Dr. Bumby was unconscious, the searched his office and found all the evidence.
- Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail sees this tactic repeatedly employed:
- While working on a project meant to show the world how important his missing sister is, Parker asks Chloe's classmates what they like about her. Yeardley declares that he liked seeing her cry, and Sara leads the rest in gleefully listing off all the ways they bullied and isolated her, insisting that she 'deserved it' for being a Creepy Loner Girl. Too late, they realize that Trip was recording the whole confrontation... as did several other students who caught it on their cell phones. The footage swiftly ends up online, getting the braggarts into serious trouble.
- Sara falls prey to this again during the Unown Arc, as she is magically compelled to gloat about how she manipulated her classmates into turning on Chloe, bragging about being the Queen of 5-E.
- Upon learning that Ash and his friends know about Hop, Bede immediately starts gloating about how he curb-stomped him and delivered a Breaking Speech. Once again, Trip records his gloating — this time, he livestreams it to Leon himself, who's understandably less than thrilled.
- At the end of Act 2, The Cat/Samantha is subjected to one, revealing to everyone on the Train that she used to be partnered with Simon, but abandoned him to a Ghom, helping kick off his transition From Nobody to Nightmare.
- Stories from Steven's Future: Thanks to Peridot and Steven, AU!Yellow Pearl has their tirade broadcast across the Gems' whole communication network.
- Somebody That I Used To Know: The story serves as a prequel to the Justice For All case "Farewell, My Turnabout", and ends with Juan preparing to stage one of these on Matt in hopes of getting justice for Celeste's death. Anyone who's played the game knows how this will turn out.
- In Death Note: The Abridged Series (kpts4tv), when Near is talking to Light with the taskforce listening in, Near thanks Kira for killing the guy who molested him:Near: So thank you, Kira, from the both of us.
Light: Oh, well it was nothing. The guy was asking for it and... WAIT A MINUTE! I see what you're trying to do!
- Played With in Fox in the Bunnyhouse: When Judy and Nick arrive at the abandoned warehouse where Robin is being held hostage, Judy sets her carrot pin to record before they confront the culprits, as they don't actually know who the culprits are at that point. Both are surprised when this results in them recording Bellwether gloating about a conspiracy that they hadn't even known existed.
- Somos Familia: After learning that their record producer is a pedophile, Ernesto pulls one off on them. He even makes a Suspiciously Specific Denial right before The Reveal, remarking that it's not as though he could have had the police outside listening to every word they're saying.
- The Wrath of Avelina: In order to deal with the vengeful Avelina, Castina gives Dolores the ability to form sound bubbles, which she uses to capture Avelina's Evil Gloating and spread it around town.
- Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Abridged had this take on Cornello's confession scene:Edward: Then tell me all the bad things you've done...
Cornello: I once kicked a small child and stole candy from a puppy.
Edward: That's right... keep em coming...
Cornello: I'm also making these worthless townfolk believe in a fake god so I can turn them into my fearless army and take over the country with the Philosopher's Stone!
Edward: Ha Ha! You've just been caught! This whole conversation was live on the radio.
Cornello: Not only that, but I once took part in a devil's three-way with a nun. A nun!
Edward: Uh, you can stop...
Cornello: I also wear a monocle! And a top hat!
Edward: I see you're gonna keep going...
Cornello: I was once even the CEO of Fox Entertainment, and it was I who canceled such great shows as Arrested Development and Futurama! [evil laugh] Ah ha... I'm evil...
- Lightwaves has a delicious one.Veser: Smile, asshole!... You're on Candid Camera!
- In Forget-Me-Not
, Harry creates a hidden rune circle which forces Umbridge to confess her misdeeds to a packed Great Hall. - In the penultimate chapter of Harry Potter and the Rule of Three, Harry's team sets Dumbledore up to confess his schemes to sacrifice Harry "for the Greater Good" via giant communication mirror hanging on the side of Gringott's. This leads to Dumbledore's death via outraged audience-turned-mob. No one's exactly heartbroken.
- In The Peace Not Promised, Severus Snape is unable to prove that Rita Skeeter is an illegal Animagus, but when he catches her just after using her beetle form to spy on his home, he's able to bluff her into offering a deal to use her abilities to help his career in exchange for not revealing it. Turns out, the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot was listening from the next room.
- In Time Enough, Harry makes a man confess his crimes to him in a pub. The guy gloats that "No one will ever believe you. You've got a room full of drunks as witnesses." Alas, Harry was prepared for such an occasion... That is, an Auror and a reporter (Ron and Luna) were sitting nearby, both perfectly sober.
- What Everyone Didn't Know: Harry uses Veritaserum-dosed Skittles to trick Dumbledore into admitting his less-than-savory plans for Harry and wizarding Britain in front of a concealed dozen aurors and Madame Bones - who happens to have a quill in operation which sends copies of everything it writes to each and every current edition of the Quibbler.
- The Fool Who Cried Foul: LuanFan41 winds up the victim of this during Lincoln's magic show, and attempts to weasel out of it with a "Just Joking" Justification, to no avail.
- In this extended ending to "Really Loud Music", the family tricks Doug and Michelle into admitting just how big of scumbags they truly are, while Luan is filming it.
- CONSEQUENCES:
- In SEXUAL HARASSMENT, Gabriel anonymously contacts Nadja, informing her that an akuma was spotted on its way to Collége Francoise Dupont. She and her news crew arrive in time to witness and record Lila assaulting Mr. Damocles and her own mother in order to grab the butterfly, intentionally getting herself akumatized.
- CAT BLANC has Rena Rouge use her illusions to disguise Ladybug and Cat Noir as Hawkmoth and Mayura. Assuming that they're the real deal, Lila eagerly accepts the villains' offer of help, unaware that several members of Paris' police force were listening in.
- BULLYING has the whole class pretending to be taken in by Lila's Malicious Slander, working with Marinette to set up a long con of fake bullying. After three months of this, they lure her to an assembly; Lila takes some time to gloat to Marinette about how she's manipulated everyone, revealing her intent to drive her to suicide... before the class reveals the truth and that Lila's mother and the school staff have been listening in.
- In SINS OF THE PAST, Inquisitor forces Lila to confess her misdeeds on a live broadcast by subjecting her to cold-blooded torture, promising to let her go if she admits her sins. When she confesses, he then continues the torture, declaring that he lied.
- SUN'S WRATH has Hell-ios kidnap a little boy, threatening to drop him to his death unless Lila trades herself for him. However, he has no intention of actually hurting the kid; his real plan is to trick Lila into showing her true colors to all the people she's hiding with by refusing to make the trade. He even convinced the boy to work with him.
- CAGED has Cage-Master kidnap Gabriel and Lila, taking them to the TV studio and forcing them to reveal all their secrets and lies in front of everyone watching the broadcast.
- Designer Decoy: After learning Marinette has entered a design competition, Lila attempts to sabotage her by sneaking into the fitting room and slashing her entry to pieces. However, Marinette anticipated this, and had her model safely wearing the final work while she left her practice piece behind. The camera she set up captures a live feed of Lila gloating as she slices apart her rival's work.
- Miraculous Alliance: The heroes arrange for Bob Roth to be publicly exposed in this fashion after he abandons his own son XY during the Silencer incident, having deemed them 'useless' after they lost their voice to the akuma.
- This plays a critical role in Lila's downfall in Missing. While her classmates are confronting her about her lies, Sabrina secretly calls Chloé, who has brought Mrs. Rossi to the principal's office for a meeting. Chloé puts her phone on speaker mode so that everyone gathered in the office can hear Lila's Evil Gloating for themselves.
- Scarlet Lady: Chat Noir and Marigold barely even have to try; Bob Roth completely fails to notice Chat Noir aiming a TV camera towards him as he sneers at the newly healed Luka that it "serves him right" to have gotten akumatized:Bob Roth: Like I'd admit I stole Kitty Section's song and look for my son! Ha! ...Uh, why are you smiling?
- The Wolves in the Woods: Alya storms into Ms. Mendeleiev's classroom in order to confront Ben, refusing to heed the teacher ordering her out. So Ms. Mendeleiev calls her mother, allowing Marlene to hear her daughter threatening Ben and proclaiming how she hopes somebody will get akumatized and "teach him a lesson".
- Ennea Series: In For Our Sakes, All For One sets Endeavor up to publicly fight Retiarius, with "Ennea" accusing Endeavor of having murdered his eldest son on live television. Everyone watching realizes that Endeavor's silence and lack of any rebuttal to the accusations (aside from attempting to fry "Ennea") says more than it doesn't.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- Aftermath of the Games: Cadance exposes Cinch's true colors by catching her blackmailing Sci-Twi in this fashion, ensuring that Cinch gets fired.
- Getting Back on Your Hooves: The Mane Six set up a Batman Gambit to get Checker Monarch to confess to trying to (illegally) ruin the lives of Trixie and her friends out of pettiness, spite, and jealousy during her public address to Ponyville. It's then subverted when Checker anticipates this and destroys their planted microphones when Trixie confronts her... and then it's double subverted when Checker's butler Helping Hoof plants another microphone on himself and exposes her.
- Rainbooms and Royalty: This pops up during the climax of May the Best Friend Win: Twilight casts a spell that swaps one of her eyes with Rainbow Dash's, allowing her to secretly witness Twilight's confrontation with Trixie where Trixie openly admits to being a total Jerkass to all of Dash's friends behind her back.
- RainbowDoubleDash's Lunaverse:
- Trixie does one of these on Octavia, who sees it coming... and still manages to slip up thanks to the magic of a tin-can telephone, with Lyra listening in on the other end.
- Happens en masse at the Grand Galloping Gala, which hadn't exactly been Trixie's end game (she'd just been trying to catch one pony, and while that technically succeeded, things went a little wrong). Regardless, the means used to get these confessions is inadmissible in court, so there's nothing that can be done. Though a lot of corrupt ponies end up saying things they really wish they hadn't.
- Naruto: The Game of Life has the Third Hokage coordinate with Naruto to expose Mizuki as a traitor this way; he has Naruto go and meet his teacher while he brings several people to watch the meeting through his crystal ball.
- Combined with Cassandra Truth in The Boy Who Cried Yuri: Shinji overhears something he shouldn't have. When he tells Misato about it, she naturally dismisses him in the "eww, don't fantasize about your coworkers" way. Cue Shinji hiding in the locker room with a tape recorder... and getting The Take when Misato gets turned on and joins the action instead.
- This Bites!:
- Soundbite's devil fruit abilities along with the transceiver given to Cross by B.R.O.B. allow the duo to do this to both Spandam and Vice-Admiral Onigumo during Enies Lobby, broadcasting their plans and/or less-than-savory ideals/beliefs to the entire world.
- During Thriller Bark, Cross strokes Doctor Hogback's ego to get him to agree to an interview on the SBS, then winds him up until he goes on a Motive Rant about everything he and Moria have been up to in the Florian Triangle, which is broadcast to the world.
- Zorua Trainer has an unintentional version when Ash meets Damien. He initially assumes that Damien had accidentally left Sunny behind, only for Damien to reveal to everyone present that he'd intentionally left his charmander behind and expected him to die. Suffice to say, nobody outside of Damien's little "friend group" is impressed to hear about what he'd done.
- The Knights Errant: The first arc ends with Team RWBY staging one of these to clear the name of their team member Blake, exposing a local White Fang cell leader in the process.
- White Sheep: Variant. Emerald praises Weiss in front of party guests, knowing Weiss' brother Whitley will hate it. He takes her to a secluded corner to "put her in her place", telling her that once Weiss is out of the picture Emerald will belong to him, with plenty of creepy sexual subtext. Except since Emerald was using her Semblance on him, he didn't notice that this "secluded corner" was actually filled with people. At least one even got a recording. Whitley's reputation goes in the toilet, and their father's plan to name him heir over Weiss is canceled.
- The Many Quirks of Phantom Thievery:
- In Chapter 6, Akira informs a trio of sexual predators that had been tailing him and Makoto that he's got a video of their harassment, stating that if they don't stop bothering the ladies in the area, he'll send it straight to the cops. He also states that he's already sent it to all of his friends with instructions to turn it over if he ever goes missing, so no jumping him later to take it back. The trio attempts to take him down then and there, only for him to fight him off, and it's later revealed that he'd sent the video anyway.
- When Sugimura confronts Haru in Leblanc, cussing her out and calling her a dyke in public, he doesn't notice that Takakura, the Vice-President of Okumura Foods, is also present in the café. Takakura immediately decides that a business relationship with Sugimura isn't in their company's best interests.
- Rig the Game: Royal has an accidental version. Just before Kamoshida confesses, Akira calls Akechi, unaware that Akechi has his phone on speaker in the middle of the Shibuya precinct.
- Maybe Sprout Wings has one of these late in the story, with Dean meeting Alastair and manipulating his former tormentor into confessing multiple illegal acts while his phone is recording.
- In Turning Red: Secrets of the Panda, Mei and Xia both get Jason Vaugn to expose himself to everyone at the auction.
- In Security, this is Michael Allen's main shtick as a security guard: carrying concealed recorders with him to take all the ambiguity out of "I-said-you-said".
- Life Ore Death has the team pull a beautiful one of these on General Wade Eiling by having him incriminate himself in a conversation with an escaped criminal (actually M'gann in disguise) while Lois Lane, her father, General Samual Lane, other members of the Team, and his adopted children are outside his office as witnesses, hidden because they hacked his security system to keep him from noticing them.
