Young children in Afghanistan are begging via TikTok Live, aiming to earn virtual gifts that convert to cash. Despite TikTok's anti-begging policies, evidence suggests that such live streams are widespread and promoted by the platform's algorithms. These children, living in extreme poverty, receive minimal financial benefit from gifts, while TikTok profits from the content. UN experts criticize this phenomenon as a form of exploitation and call for immediate action against the practice, emphasizing the need for social media platforms to protect vulnerable populations from digital exploitation.
Taking a cut of people's suffering is nothing short of digital predation. I urge TikTok to take immediate action and enforce its own policies on exploitative begging and seriously question the commission' it is taking from the world's most vulnerable people, he said.
The documented practices represent significant abuses and immediate action must be taken to ensure platforms no longer allow, or benefit directly or indirectly, from content such as this.
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