LONDON: TikTok is allegedly profiting from Syrian refugees using the platform to beg for donations, an investigation has found.
The social media app was reported by the BBC to take 70 percent of the proceeds raised by families who livestream on the platform pleading for digital gifts with a cash value.
A BBC crew, that visited a refugee camp and spent five months monitoring the activities, spoke to a middleman named Hamid Al-Alwa, who provided phones and helped manage accounts of families who begged.
Al-Alwa confirmed that the value of the gifts they received was “significantly reduced” from the amount actually pledged.
“If we get a lion as a gift, it’s worth $500,” he said, in reference to an animated lion that appears on a livestreamer’s screen when a generous donation is made. “By the time it reaches the money exchange in Al-Dana, it’s only $155.”
According to the investigation, families were “earning” up to $1,000 an hour, but received significantly less.
Al-Alwa, who reportedly sold his livestock to pay for a mobile phone, SIM card, and Wi-Fi connection, added that he was working with agencies in China and the Middle East that were contracted by TikTok to “recruit livestreamers and encourage users to spend more time on the app.”
The agencies, known as guilds, are paid to “help content creators produce more appealing livestreams” and receive a commission according to duration and the gifts received.
The investigation reported that children spent up to 10 hours sitting on the floor of their tent begging for money.
Matt Navarra, a social media expert and analyst, said: “Livestreams inevitably pull people in for a longer duration. The longer that they spend on the platform, the more revenue they generate for the business, the more information they glean from its users in terms of how the algorithm works.
“In the video, it’s obviously prolonging the pain for somebody that already is in a desperate situation.”
More than 30 accounts using children for begging were reported to TikTok. The company removed the videos but said that “no violation” had taken place.
“We are deeply concerned by the information and allegations brought to us by the BBC, and have taken prompt and rigorous action,” the firm said.
“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,” TikTok added.
TikTok, the world’s fastest-growing social media app, has made more than $6.2 billion in gross revenue from in-app spending since its launch in 2017, according to analytics company Sensor Tower.
