TikTok, today’s most popular social media platform, came to the fore with a research conducted by the BBC the other day. Focusing on the increasing number of begging broadcasts on the platform recently, the BBC revealed how TikTok makes huge amounts of money from these broadcasts and how the broadcasts happen.
Begging broadcasts, which started on TikTok, were especially made with Syrian parents and children. According to the BBC’s research, families could raise astonishing amounts of $1,000 an hour on begging broadcasts. But the interesting part was how much of the money the families collected went into their pockets.
TikTok receives 69% of donations, giving only 31% to users:
The BBC conducted a study to answer how many of the donations made via digital gifts from TikTok go into the pockets of families. As part of this research, a BBC reporter from Syria opened a broadcast and other BBC employees in England sent a TikTok gift worth 106 dollars to this reporter.
However, when the live broadcast ended, it was seen that the balance in the test account was shown as $ 33. In other words, TikTok seized 69% of donations made through digital gifts. Moreover, 10% of the remaining 33 dollars was taken as a commission for currency conversion in Syria. So, the pocketed amount of the $106 gift was only $19.
So how do these posts open?
While it was already striking that TikTok seized 69% of donations, the emergence of these live streams was just as striking. According to the BBC, many beggar broadcasts were actually directed by an ‘intermediary’. This agent was recruiting several families to stream on TikTok, families begging live on TikTok for hours.
Hamid, one of these intermediaries, made interesting statements to the BBC. Hamid, who broadcast live with 12 families, stated that some “live broadcasting agencies” based in China and working directly with TikTok support them. According to Hamid, these agencies ensure that closed accounts are opened, act as an intermediary in opening new live broadcast accounts, and step in when there is a problem with the application.
These live broadcasting agencies actually exist around the world. Reaching one of these agencies, the BBC learned that TikTok pays agencies according to the duration of the live broadcasts and the amount of gifts given. This explained why the begging broadcasts continued for hours.
Posts are also against TikTok policies:
Begging posts were actually posts against TikTok’s policies. According to TikTok rules, you need to reach 1,000 followers to open a live broadcast and you must not directly request gifts on these broadcasts. Most importantly, it is stipulated that young people should not be endangered, abused or harmed.
But many begging publications feature children directly, and these children beg for gifts. When the BBC reported the 30 accounts it detected from the reporting system within the application, it did not get any results. However, when the organization wanted to contact TikTok directly about the issue, a different route was followed: TikTok banned all reported accounts.
Here’s a statement from TikTok:
“We are deeply concerned about the information and allegations made available 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 reinforcing our global policies on exploitative begging.”
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