How TikTok dey make profit from sexual livestreams wey involve children

BBC News

03-03-2025

TikTok dey profit from sexual livestreams performed by teenagers wey dey as young as 15, BBC don find out.
We speak wit three women for Kenya wey say dem begin dis activity as teenagers. Dem tell us say dem dey use TikTok to openly advertise and negotiate payment for more content wey dem go send thru oda messaging platforms.
TikTok say dem ban dis kain tins but di company know say e dey happen, moderators bin tell di BBC. TikTok dey take a cut of about 70% from all livestream transactions, we bin don find out.
TikTok tell BBC say dem get "zero tolerance for exploitation".
Livestreams from Kenya dey popular for TikTok - each night ova one week, we find plenty of dem wia women performers dey dance suggestively, and hundreds of pipo around di world dey watch. Some dey use coded sexual slang to advertise sexual services.
Warning: Dis tori get details wey dey sexual in nature
Di time na two o'clock in di morning for Nairobi, and di TikTok Lives dey in full flow.
Music blasts, and users dey chat over each oda, as one woman turn her camera on to twerk or pose provocatively. Emoji "gifts" just full di screen.
"Inbox me for kinembe guys. Tap, tap," di performers dey talk on repeat. "Tap, tap," na phrase wey TikTok users dey always use to ask dia viewers to "like" a livestream.
"Kinembe" na di Swahili word for "clitoris". Wen di performer say "Inbox me", dat na invitation for di viewer to send a private message for TikTok to request more videos - such as to watch di performer dey masturbate, strip or perform sexual activities wit oda women.
Di emoji gifts dey act as payment for di TikTok livestreams and - bicos TikTok dey remove any obvious sexual acts and nudity - also di oda more content dem dey send later for oda platforms. Di gifts fit dey converted to cash.
"E no dey in TikTok interest to clamp down on soliciting of sex - di more pipo give gifts on a livestream…[di] more revenue for TikTok," one Kenyan former moderator wey we go just call Jo tell BBC.
TikTok say e employ more dan 40,000 moderators globally.
We discover say TikTok still dey collect about 70% cut from livestream gifts. Di company bin deny say e dey take such a large commission afta we bin establish am for inside one investigation in 2022.
E don tey wey TikTok bin dey aware of child exploitation for dia livestreams bicos dem bin don run dia own internal investigation in 2022 - but dem ignore di issue bicos dem dey make "significant profit" from dem, according to di claims for one lawsuit wey di US state of Utah bin file last year.
TikTok respond say di lawsuit - wey still dey go on - bin ignore di "proactive measures" wey dem bin don take to improve safety.
Kenya na hotspot for dis abuse, according to di charity ChildFund Kenya, and di problem dey get worse sake of say di kontri get plenty young demographic and internet usage dey widespread.
Africa as a whole also get poor online moderation compared to Western countries, di charity add.
Jo, wey bin work for Teleperformance - wey TikTok bin contract to provide content moderation - say moderators get reference guide of sexual words or actions wey TikTok ban. But dis guide no dey take into account slangs or oda provocative gestures.
"You dey see by di way dem dey pose, wit di camera for dia cleavage and thighs [for example], say dem dey solicit for sex. Dem fit no tok anything, but you dey see say dem dey signpost to dia [oda platform] accounts, but I no go fit do anything."
Anoda content moderator for Teleperformance, who we go call Kelvin, say moderation also dey limited as TikTok don dey rely more on artificial intelligence (AI), wey no dey sensitive enough to pick up on local sexual slang.
Jo and Kelvin dey among seven current and former content moderators wey dey work on TikTok content wey tell us dia concerns.
Jo say about 80% of livestreams wey content moderators dey flag contain sexual, or advertising sexual services, and TikTok dey aware of di scale of di issue.
ChildFund Kenya and oda charities tell BBC say children wey dey as young as nine dey take part for diz activities.
We don speak to teenage girls and young women wey say dem dey spend up to six or seven hours a night on di activity and dem dey make on average £30 a day - enough to pay for dia food and transport for one week.
"I dey sell myself on top TikTok. I dey dance naked. I dey do am bicos dat na wia I fit get money to support myself," one 17-year-old wey we go call Esther tok.
She dey live for one poor neighbourhood for Nairobi, wia 3,000 residents dey share toilet facilities. She say di money dey help her buy food for her child, and support her mother who bin don dey struggle to pay dia rent since Esther papa die.
She say she dey 15 years old wen her friend bin introduce her to TikTok Lives, na di friend help her to bypass di age restrictions - only pipo wey don pass 18 fit use TikTok Live, and users gatz get at least 1,000 followers to go live.
So TikTok users wey get big following fit act as digital pimps - hosting di livestreams selling sexual content. Some of them get back-up accounts, showing say TikTok fit don ban or suspend dem bifor.
Dem know how to avoid detection by TikTok content moderators, while generating di right amount of sexual teasing to get di interest of dia customers.
"Wen you dey dance, you go move away from di camera, odawise dem go block you," one pimp shout for one woman wey dey twerk on screen.
As di pimps host dem, di women go give di pimps a cut from di money wey dem earn.
Di relationship fit turn exploitative, Esther tok. She say her digital pimp know say she dey under 18, and "e like to dey use young girls".
He dey put pressure on her to earn more - which mean say she gatz to dey do livestream more frequently - and he dey more cut of her money dan she expect, she tok.
"So if dem send emoji wey be 35,000ksh, he go take 20,000ksh and give you only 15,000ksh."
Working for am be like pesin wey dey for "handcuffs" she tok. "Na you dey suffer pass bicos e dey get di bigger share but na you im dey use."
"Sophie", no be her real name, who say she also dey 15 wen she bin start to dey livestream on top TikTok, say she dey get requests from men for Europe for services on oda platforms, including from one German user wey go demand for her to dey caress her breasts and genitals for money.
Now 18, she dey regret her online sex work. Some of the videos she bin send to users for oda platforms dem later upload dem to social media witout her consent, she tok.
Her neighbours bin find out, and warned oda young pipo make dem no associate wit her, she tell BBC.
"Dem call me lost sheep, and dem tell young pipo say I go mislead them. I dey lonely most of di time."
Some of di girls and women we bin speak to tok say dem also pay dem money to meet TikTok users for sex in person, or say dia pimp bin don pressure dem to have sex wit dem.
TikTok dey try to establish diasef for African markets, but dem no dey employ enough staff to effectively monitor dia content, di content moderators for Kenya tok.
Kenya goment don shown signs of acknowledging di issue - for 2023, President William Ruto bin hold meeting with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew to ask for beta content moderation for di platform.
Di goment say di company bin agree to tighter regulation, wit a TikTok office in Kenya to help co-ordinate operations.
But di moderators we speak to say nothing don happen more dan 18 months later.
Teleperformance reply dat dia moderators "dey work diligently to tag and flag user-generated content based on community standards and client guidelines" and day dia systems no dey set up to allow Teleperformance to remove offending material or report it to law enforcement authorities.
One spokesperson for TikTok tell BBC say:
"TikTok get zero tolerance for exploitation. We dey enforce strict safety policies, including robust Live content rules, moderation in 70 languages, including Swahili, and we dey partner wit local experts and creators, including our Sub-Saharan Africa Safety Advisory Council to continually strengthen our approach."