Chinese-owned social media giant TikTok is profiting from videos of displaced families in Syrian refugee camps begging for donations. The company reportedly takes up to 70 percent of the proceeds from such livestreams.
Earlier this year, TikTok users saw their feeds flood with videos of families begging in Syrian camps. Children are livestreaming on the Chinese-owned social media app for hours, pleading for digital gifts that have cash value, according to a report by BBC News.
But while some livestreams have earned up to $1,000 an hour, the families in the camps received only a small fraction of that, an investigation by the outlet found.
The video trend was reportedly facilitated by people known as “TikTok middlemen,” who arrived at the Syrian camps to help families create accounts on the platform, and then provided them with the phones and equipment to make live videos.
These middlemen claim to be from agencies affiliated with TikTok in China and the Middle East. The agencies are reportedly tasked with recruiting more TikTok content creators across the globe, as well as encouraging users to spend more time on the app.
One of the Syrian families going live on TikTok every day includes Mona Ali Al-Karim and her six daughters — one of whom is blind — who sit on the floor of their tent for hours, repeating the few English words they know: “Please like, please share, please gift.”
The virtual gifts they ask for — such as digital roses and virtual lions — can be withdrawn from TikTok as cash.
After TikTok refused to answer how much money it makes from the gifts, BBC News conducted an experiment to track how much money the begging families receive.
A reporter posing as a Syrian living in the camps contacted a TikTok-affiliated agency, obtained an account, and went live. Meanwhile, a staffer in London sent the reporter in Syria $106 worth of TikTok gifts from another account.
After the livestream, the balance of the Syrian test account was $33, meaning that TikTok had taken 69 percent of the money.
Moreover, another 10 percent was deducted after the reporter in Syria withdrew the cash from the local money transfer shop. Then, the TikTok middlemen took 35 percent of the remainder, leaving the BBC reporter with just $19 leftover from the initial $106 donation.
TikTok responded to a media inquiry regarding the accounts begging for money, claiming, “We are deeply concerned by the information and allegations brought to us by the BBC, and have taken prompt and rigorous action.”
“This type of content is not allowed on our platform, and we are further strengthening our global policies around exploitative begging,” the Chinese-owned social media giant added.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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