Families in Syrian camps are begging for donations on TikTok and the social media giant is reportedly taking up to 70 percent of the proceeds. BBC reported that the streams earn up to $1,000 an hour but found that the people in the camps were only receiving a fraction of that.
The social media app said that this type of content was against platform policies and that the commission from digital gifts was significantly less that 70 percent, the exact amount is unclear, according to BBC.
The social media called this “exploitative begging” and said that it would take strict action on this type of content.
Users of the app earlier this year noticed their pages filled with livestreams of families in refugee camps, BBC found that “TikTok middlemen” provided these families with phones and equipment to conduct TikTok livestreams.
The middlemen reportedly work with TikTok-affiliated agencies in the Middle East and China, the agencies seem to be a part of TikTok’s strategy to recruit livestreamers and encourage people to use the app more.
The app’s algorithm suggests content based on the geographical location of the user’s phone number, the middlemen said preference is towards British SIM cards, according to the BBC report.
The digital gifts are on the application but can be withdrawn as money, livestream viewers can send the gifts in the form of virtual roses which value to a few cents, to digital lions which cost as much as $500.
One of the middlemen told BBC that he sold livestock to pay for a phone, sim card and Wi-Fi connection to work with families on TikTok livestreams, he said he pays them most of the profits minus his running costs.
TikTok, the world’s fastest-growing social media app, has made more than $6.2bn in gross revenue from in-app spending since its launch in 2017, according to analytics by Sensor Tower.
Update:
TikTok has issued a statement on the story:
“We are deeply concerned by the information 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. We have removed the accounts that violated our Community Guidelines, terminated our relationship with the agency in question, and written to all our LIVE agencies to remind them of their contractual agreement to adhere to our strict policies.”
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