According to a BBC report, the TikTok platform is profiting from pornographic live streams featuring teenagers, some as young as 15. These live streams are typically promoted on TikTok before directing users to other platforms for more explicit transactions.

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The BBC interviewed three Kenyan women who stated they began engaging in such activities as teenagers. They used TikTok to publicly advertise and negotiate fees for sending more explicit content through other messaging platforms. Although TikTok prohibits such solicitation, reviewers stated that the company is well aware of it. TikTok takes approximately 70% commission from all live stream transactions.

TikTok told the BBC that the company has "zero tolerance for exploitation." However, in Kenya, such live streams are very popular. Over the course of a week, the BBC found as many as a dozen live streams each night, in which female performers engaged in sexually suggestive dances, attracting hundreds of viewers from around the world. These performers used veiled sexual language to solicit sexual services.

These emoji "gifts" serve as both payment for the TikTok live stream and as payment for more explicit content sent later on other platforms, as TikTok removes overt sexual acts and nudity. These gifts can be exchanged for cash. A former Kenyan reviewer, using the pseudonym Jo, stated: "Banning sexual solicitation is not in TikTok's interest, because the more gifts people send in live streams, the more revenue TikTok makes." Jo is one of more than 40,000 reviewers TikTok employs worldwide.

The BBC found that TikTok still takes approximately 70% commission from live stream gifts. The company denied taking such a high commission after a 2022 investigation identified the same commission rate. A lawsuit filed in Utah last year alleges that TikTok has long known about child exploitation on its live streams but has turned a blind eye because it is "highly profitable." TikTok responded that the lawsuit ignores the "aggressive measures" it has taken to improve safety.

The Kenya Children's Foundation stated that Kenya is a hotspot for such abuse, which is related to the country's young demographic and widespread internet use. The charity also added that online moderation levels are also poorer on the African continent compared to Western countries. Jo stated that reviewers receive a reference guide of prohibited sexually suggestive words or acts, but the guide is limited and does not take into account slang or other provocative gestures.

Another Teleperformance content moderator, Kelvin, stated that moderation is also limited by TikTok's increasing reliance on artificial intelligence (AI), which he believes is not sensitive enough to local sexual slang. Jo and Kelvin are two of seven current and former TikTok content moderators who expressed their concerns to the BBC. Jo stated that of the live streams flagged in content moderator feedback, about 80% were sexually suggestive or soliciting sexual services, indicating TikTok is aware of the extent of the problem.

The Kenya Children's Foundation and other charities told the BBC that children as young as 9 are also participating in these activities. The BBC interviewed some teenage girls and young women who stated that they spend up to six to seven hours each night doing this, earning an average of £30 a day, enough to cover a week's worth of food and transportation. A 17-year-old girl, using the pseudonym Esther, said: "I sell myself on TikTok. I do naked dances. I do it because this is where I earn money to feed myself."

Esther said that when she was 15, a friend introduced her to TikTok live streaming and helped her bypass the age restrictions—only those over 18 can use the live stream function. Users also need at least 1,000 followers to go live. Therefore, TikTok users with large followings can act as digital pimps, hosting live streams that sell sexual content. Some of them have backup accounts, indicating they have been banned or suspended by TikTok in the past.

These digital pimps seem to know how to evade TikTok content moderators while generating enough sexual provocation to pique customers' interest. "When dancing, stay away from the camera, otherwise you'll be blocked," one pimp shouted to a woman twerking on screen. In return, these women give a portion of their earnings to the pimp. Esther said that the relationship quickly becomes exploitative. She said her digital pimp knew she was under 18, "He likes using young girls."

He said he pressured her to earn more money—meaning she needed to live stream more often—and took a larger share than she expected. Esther said that working for him was like wearing "handcuffs." "You're the one who's hurt, because he takes the biggest share, but you're the one being exploited." Another girl, using the pseudonym Sophie, said she also started live streaming on TikTok when she was 15, and she received requests from men in Europe to provide services on third-party platforms, including a German user who asked her to touch her breasts and genitals in exchange for money.

Now 18, Sophie regrets her online sex work. She said some of the videos she sent to users through other platforms were uploaded to social media without her consent. Her neighbors found out about it and warned other young people not to associate with her. She said: "They labeled me a lost sheep and told young people that I would mislead them. I'm lonely most of the time."

Some of the girls and women interviewed by the BBC said they were also paid for offline sexual encounters with TikTok users or were forced to have sex with pimps. Content moderators in Kenya told the BBC that TikTok is eager to gain a foothold in the African market but has not hired enough staff to effectively monitor content. The Kenyan government has shown signs of recognizing the problem. In 2023, President William Ruto met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, calling for increased content moderation on the platform. The government stated that the company has agreed to strengthen regulation and establish a TikTok office in Kenya to help coordinate operations.

But the moderators interviewed by the BBC said that more than 18 months later, neither of these things has happened. Teleperformance responded that its moderators "strive to flag user-generated content in accordance with community standards and client guidelines" and that its client's systems are not set up to allow Teleperformance to remove infringing material or report it to law enforcement. A TikTok spokesperson told the BBC: "TikTok has zero tolerance for exploitation. We enforce strict safety policies, including robust live content rules, moderation in 70 languages (including Swahili), and we work with local experts and creators, including our sub-Saharan Africa Safety Advisory Council, to continuously strengthen our approach."