According to a report by the BBC, the social media platform TikTok has made profits from poor Syrian families that beg for money. Parents and their children produced livestreams, in which they asked their followers for money. The BBC says that most of the money, up to 70 %, went to TikTok and only a small part reached the families.
Agencies and middlemen that worked with TikTok gave the homeless families phones, WiFi and other equipment to produce the livestreams.
TikTok’s users can purchase digital gifts that viewers pay with real money. Most of it went to the company and its agencies. Only a fraction reached the families in need.
TikTok has responded to the report, saying that they will look into the matter. It would take action to stop begging and ban accounts that violated its policy.
In Syria, a brutal civil war has been raging for ten years. Up to 12 million people have lost their homes and jobs. For many, begging for money is the only way they can survive.
Voice of America News: Henry Ridgwell on the Turkish border,
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons