A group of men set up cellphone cameras on a public grassy median outside Atelier Pilates in St. Louis Park and began filming women through the studio's front windows, halting the workout class for 15 minutes and prompting the instructor to call police. The incident, which occurred near Highway 7 and Minnetonka Boulevard, has since gone viral after a participant posted footage to TikTok that has been watched by more than 6.3 million people.
Reza Moreno, who was taking the class at the time, said the men's approach with cameras felt weird, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune. Moreno and other participants covered up as the men got closer to the front door, and women inside stacked boxes to block the windows while filming the men outside with their own cellphones. Atelier Pilates operates as a boutique fitness studio at 4055 Highway 7 dedicated specifically to female clientele through specialized reformer and mat classes, according to Artful Living Magazine.
Instructor Stopped Class, Called Police
The instructor asked participants whether they felt comfortable before calling police, and the men left the studio before officers arrived. The St. Louis Park Police Department is aware of the incident, but Jacque Smith said no police report has been filed by the business or individuals involved, per the same report. Atelier's owner said no one was physically threatened or harmed during the encounter.
At least one of the three men wore a sweatshirt reading “The People's Bicep,” a phrase associated with the First Amendment Protection Agency, described as a network of First Amendment auditors. Atelier owner Hodan Malim said the men filmed through the windows, tried to get reactions from women inside, and disrupted the class. Women in the class said the filming was inappropriate and gross, and a video caption described the men as recording and violating women, with one woman heard saying “no means no.”
Studio Adds Window Film for Privacy
In response, Atelier added window film to increase privacy at the studio. Malim said the privacy measures aim to help members continue feeling comfortable and protected. Under Minnesota commercial video surveillance guidelines, businesses can legally operate cameras in public-facing spaces, but the state's interference-with-privacy statute treats surreptitious filming through a window into a space where someone has a reasonable expectation of privacy as a gross misdemeanor, according to the Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes.
Separately, Minnesota's disorderly conduct statute makes it a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine, to engage in offensive or abusive conduct in a public or private place while knowing it is likely to alarm, anger, or disturb others. Minnesota is also a one-party consent state for recording audio, meaning individuals may record public events without another party's permission, per the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
What Counts as a Legal Audit
First Amendment audits are a legal practice, according to University of Minnesota professor Jeff Kosseff, who directs the Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law and said people have the right to film on public property. But Kosseff noted that the First Amendment does not allow auditors to record interactions in private offices or areas of government buildings inaccessible to the public, nor does it allow them to record inside private businesses. Private businesses, he said, retain the right to tell auditors to leave.
First Amendment auditors typically enter government buildings to record interactions with employees and officials, then post the footage online, aiming to provoke reactions, test whether they are told to stop recording, or see whether police are called. The practice is becoming a more common social and political movement. The YouTube channel First Amendment Protection Agency, whose account name matches the phrase on the sweatshirt seen outside Atelier, has uploaded videos documenting confrontations during public filming audits.
Prior Disputes and Similar Incidents Elsewhere
The group's tactics have drawn legal scrutiny before. In September 2024, a federal court in South Carolina dismissed a lawsuit involving John Medaglia, who has operated under the First Amendment Protection Agency moniker, according to CaseMine. Online auditing forums on platforms like Reddit frequently track these encounters, noting that while filming on public sidewalks is constitutionally protected, police often intervene once auditor conduct escalates to physical altercations or pepper spray use.
The St. Louis Park case echoes other recent incidents involving nonconsensual filming of women in fitness and retail settings around the country. Hoodline previously reported that Las Vegas police arrested a man for surreptitiously recording women inside the women-only workout area of an athletic club this month, while Houston police arrested a man in May under Texas Penal Code §21.15 after employees caught him filming female shoppers from low angles inside a retail store.
