Traveller takes on TikTok claiming ‘wrong uns’ are grooming kids with ‘gifting’

A Traveller and social media influencer has accused TikTok of "putting money over morals" claiming the platform is "turning a blind eye to kids being groomed."

Bare-knuckle boxer, Tony O'Donnell is among hundreds of content creators taking part in a UK-wide "blackout" which sees them deactivate "gifting" on their live content, of which TikTok takes a 50% cut. It comes in a bid to pressurise the company into change after a musician the site previously lauded was convicted of rape after convincing fans to send him thousands of pounds.

Anthony Q Lion, whose real name is Anthony Ekpenyong bowed out from the platform on the eve of his seven-year prison sentence earlier this month. He was found guilty of raping a woman who begged him to stop 107 times, MyLondon reports. His 337k fans were left fuming after he failed to mention his rape conviction when he asked them for thousands of donations during his final performance, masquerading as a doting father and husband.

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The 37-year-old from Chadwell Heath in East London was sent 134,800 TikTok gifts within minutes by oblivious fans ranging from 1p to £400 each. He was directly managed by TikTok's internal creator management team and had even received the company's coveted "Live Pro" badge.

Since the scandal, it has emerged that children under 18 are managing to fudge their age and beg for random followers to give them enough numbers to go live on the platform so that they can receive gifts. All with differing values the gifts range from low value icons including a rose, an ice cream cone and a wishing bottle to the most expensive gift, which is the universe.

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The Daily Star has seen scores of screenshots of young girls dressed in their school uniforms being offered gifts by men in exchange for their SnapChat details. One girl even tells a man she will send them to him "after school" and another mentions their "pocket money."

One predator says: "Can I pay you end of month to add your snap?" A girl replies: "I'll post after school and tag you in it."

Screenshots appear to show evidence of dozens of youngsters with gifting labels added to their accounts, however their ages cannot be verified. It is understood that most children who don't have access to a bank account to claim the cash, like to regift their prizes to other influencers in a bid to gain popularity. TikTok has since reviewed the accounts flagged by the Daily Star and removed those found to be violating their policies.

Tony, who gives an insight into the Travelling community via his account onlytonyofficial said: "The case of Anthony Q Lion has woke a lot of people up to the dangers that are out there, especially for young children.

"I've seen hundreds of screenshots of men blatantly trying to groom young girls with gifts, but whenever you report it to TikTok, they say no violation has been committed.

"It's like they are turning a blind eye and putting money over morals and it's wrong."

But TikTok says it has a "zero tolerance policy" for predatory and grooming behaviour and has been open about the number of accounts it's closed down. It will also report material to the relevant authorities if necessary.

Meanwhile content creators have now turned vigilantes to call out predators in the act online, with videos showing them intercepting live streams and commenting on posts to warn youngsters of the dangers. But some kids have been branding them "Karens" for stopping them from earning money.

Such is the level of backlash that a protest was held outside TikTok HQ in London earlier this week with creators hoping to put a dent in the giant's profits by shutting down their "gifting" and "battles" as part of a "blackout."

A video seen by the Daily Star shows protestors being told to "f**k off" by someone entering the building.

Tony said: "We want TikTok to tighten its procedures and introduce criminal background checks (DBS) and verification to keep people safe.

"Some content creators are earning thousands of pounds a week and TikTok takes a huge 50% cut so they are making so much money out of it.

"You can very easily lie about your age and put incorrect details in to set up an account within seconds – there are no identity checks. You only need a few hundred followers to be able to go live and take part in gifting battles, so all these youngsters are begging for followers – no matter who they are, just to be able to earn gifts.

"There's young kids getting groomed by these wrong 'uns and something needs to be done because it's a breeding ground."

TikTok's Community Guidelines state that users must be over 18 to go live, purchase coins or send gifts. It says it continues to proactively review related content and will remove any that violates its guidelines.

TikTok became the first major platform to publicly disclose the number of accounts it removes for potentially belonging to an underage person. Between April and June 2023 TikTok removed 18,823,040 accounts suspected to be under the age of 13.

You can learn more about TikTok’s tools, controls, and educational content on its Youth Portal and in its Guardian’s Guide.

Parents concerned about their child's mobile phone use can restrict content and impose limits on the Google Family Link app here.

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