Young gives 2,000 francs to Tiktoker on the platform

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Tiktok users can give virtual gifts to their favorite creators in their stories and videos. However, they are not so virtual – they cost real money and can also be redeemed for real money.

Swiss Tiktoker Luxpux received gifts worth around 2,000 francs in ten minutes from a single user in a live video. He couldn’t be happy about it. On the contrary. Because the money came from a 15-year-old teenager.

“I find it dirty for Tiktok to exclude such young people,” Luxpux says in the video. Actually, she doesn’t want any presents. It’s true that this functionality can also be turned off, as Luxpux found out. “But I have to do this over and over with every story,” he tells Blick.

He even tried to return the money. But in vain – as he said in a second video, the teenager and his mother did not come to the meeting. The girl wrote to him that her parents didn’t care what she spent her pocket money on.

pre-programmed manipulation

“The danger of such digital currencies is that you don’t feel like you’re spending real money. “So in the end you don’t even realize how much money is gone,” Melanie Balasopulos, 38, tells Blick. She is a social media expert and runs her own agency.

“Children, in particular, can be greatly manipulated by such methods,” Balasopulos continues. For this reason, it advises parents to explain Tiktok’s data protection settings to their children and to set the security settings themselves.

In fact, children are strictly not allowed to send gifts. According to Tiktok, you have to be 18 years old. “As with other social media platforms, age is not controlled any more,” says the expert. The European consumer association filed a complaint against Tiktok in 2021 – due to the lack of protective measures for children.

But as is often the case, Tiktok is not transparent: In response to the complaint, it was said that only “development options will be reviewed”. Balasopulos also thinks that more stringent regulation is needed. “But I doubt it will be successful,” he says.

It’s not just the creators who gain from this

Meanwhile, an entire ecosystem has evolved. Tiktokers with many followers make good money with virtual gifts. “Creators with over a million followers can earn 20,000 to 30,000 francs per month,” says Balasopulos.

However, Tiktokers cannot put all the money in their own pockets. After all, the Chinese group behind it also wants to take advantage of it. No one knows exactly how much money Tiktok holds. The media is talking about 50 percent. Tiktoker Luxpux is even talking about 70 percent.

After all: The function can be turned off both as a creator and as a user. Luxpux is fed up with gifts for now. She will do without him in the next live video. In addition to him, other Tiktokers like Zimmi or Joung Guschti are also questioning the gift function.

Source :Blick