Technology AI, Science and New Things
TikTok is widely used by sex workers in Kenya, where underage girls are reportedly being exploited on the platform.
The BBC has found evidence that children as young as nine are performing sexually suggestive livestreams on TikTok for money.
Women and girls in Kenya use TikTok livestreams to solicit and negotiate payments for more explicit content than performed on other messaging platforms.
The app has strict guidelines on graphic language and content, as well as restrictions on who can livestream: users have to be over 18 and have at least 1,000 followers.
But this has not prevented users with larger followings acting as “digital pimps”, evading bans with sexually suggestive gestures or slang.
According to the BBC, teenage girls who go live for six or seven hours can earn up to £30 a day – enough to pay for a week’s food and transport in Nairobi.
