A | London, Oct 12 (UNI) Refugee families in Syrian camps are begging for donations on TikTok while the company takes up to 70 per cent of the proceeds, a BBC investigation has found.
Children are livestreaming on the social media app for hours, pleading for digital gifts with a cash value.
The BBC saw streams earning up to $1,000 (£900) an hour, but found refugees received only a tiny fraction of that.
TikTok said it would take prompt action against "exploitative begging", the BBC report said.
The company said this type of content was not allowed on its platform, and it said its commission from digital gifts was significantly less than 70 per cent. But it declined to confirm the exact amount.
Earlier this year, TikTok users saw their feeds fill with livestreams of refugee families in Syrian camps, drawing support from some viewers and concerns about scams from others.
In the camps in north-west Syria, the BBC found that the trend was being facilitated by so-called "TikTok middlemen", who provided families with the phones and equipment to go live.
The middlemen said they worked with agencies affiliated to TikTok in China and the Middle East, who gave the families access to TikTok accounts. These agencies are part of TikTok's global strategy to recruit livestreamers and encourage users to spend more time on the app, the BBC said.
The gifts they're asking for are virtual, but they cost the viewers real money and can be withdrawn from the app as cash. Livestream viewers send the gifts - ranging from digital roses, costing a few cents, to virtual lions costing around $500 - to reward or tip creators for content.
For five months, the BBC followed 30 TikTok accounts broadcasting live from Syrian refugee camps and built a computer program to scrape information from them, showing that viewers were often donating digital gifts worth up to $1,000 an hour to each account.
Families in the camps said they were receiving only a tiny fraction of these sums, however, the BBC report said.
TikTok influencer and ex-professional rugby player Keith Mason donated $330 during one family's livestream and encouraged his nearly one million followers to do the same.
When told by the BBC that most of these funds were taken by the social media company, Mason said it was "ridiculous" and "unfair" to families in Syria.
"You've got to have some transparency. To me, that's very greedy. It's greed," he said.
TikTok's rules say you must have 1,000 followers before you can go live, you must not directly solicit for gifts and must "prevent the harm, endangerment or exploitation" of minors on the platform.
After the BBC contacted TikTok directly for comment, the company banned all of the accounts.
It said in a statement: "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."
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.
UNI ING。 《日报》全媒体记者 赵丽杰
新城区一号小区海星路20—2号楼4单元一楼楼头，是“小菊理发店”。理发店东侧，前后有40多米长、三四米宽的花园，里面还有形态各异的“文化石”和两张方桌。近几年，闲暇之余，周边居民聚集于此，他们或赏花喝茶、或打扑克下象棋、或分享趣闻轶事，呈现出一幅和谐美好的生活画卷。
该户的主人是50多岁的刘洪涛，一直热心公益事业。10多年前，他们一家搬到这里，开了理发店。五六年前，楼外的环境不太好，杂草丛生，刘洪涛看不下去了，买来锹镐等工具，把杂草和石头清理干净，然后又买来爬藤月季、鸡冠花和牡丹等花苗栽上，还搭了20多米长的花架子。接下来，松土、浇水、上肥、清理杂草，刘洪涛天天在小花园里忙活儿，邻居也参与其中。
B | 如今，小花园里鲜花盛开，美不胜收，附近居民和过路人纷纷驻足拍照。?刘洪涛觉得还缺点儿什么，便发动左邻右舍和亲朋好友，弄来了10多块观赏石，找人刻上了“兴盛之家”“中国梦”“和为贵”“德”等字样，还在房山墙上画了一幅“长城”，为小花园增添了一股文化气息。附近居民时常会聚于此，刘洪涛还准备了方桌、椅子、太阳能灯具，便于大家休闲娱乐。龙湾街道新兴社区对此给予大力支持，每年都提供遮阳篷。 10月12日晚，记者来到小花园，看到鸡冠花和月季花开得正艳，七八个居民正玩着扑克，当时刘洪涛外出帮邻居安装电动车车棚。
C | 邻居马新久告诉记者：“我们都称这是小区的四合院，大家习惯聚集在这里娱乐，打打牌，下下棋，有时还召开‘会议’，商议小区治理的事儿。有了这个四合院，邻里关系更融洽了。” 刘洪涛帮完忙赶回来，他说大家有事儿没事儿都愿意来小院坐坐，谁家有个急难愁事儿，来这儿说说，大家或安慰或支招或伸手相帮，问题就解决了。“这个小花园费了我不少心思，但看到大家来小院很开心，我更开心！”刘洪涛说。
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