British schoolgirls have been posting videos on TikTok in their uniforms asking for cash from groomers, with the social media giant failing to remove the clips.
The Sunday Mirror has uncovered evidence that the videos have been allowed to remain online for months, with some of them being filmed in classrooms and toilets. There have been four schoolgirls involved, with three of them from the school.
The girls have disclosed details of payment and have been using suggestive hashtags like ‘paypigs’ and ‘sugardaddy’ in order to attract more groomers and boost followers. And there have been some sick comments from perverts, with one posting: "You’ve always got another career if your GCSEs fail.”
Between them they had around 14,000 followers and some 33,000 likes from potential predators, while their pages showed no evidence of ever being moderated. Some of the girls’ individual posts attracted more than 90,000 views alone.
TikTok finally removed the posts once the Sunday Mirror had showed them their evidence. Their lack of action previously, though, is a big worry.
“Everyone at TikTok should hang their heads in shame,” insisted a whistleblower, who got in touch with the paper. “This is every parent’s worst nightmare.”
Hannah Ruschen of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children said the four schoolgirls’ accounts “present a very clear risk of abuse to children”. She said: “Grooming online is at record levels, with girls the victim in more than 80% of instances.”
Labour shadow culture minister Steph Peacock added: “This should shame Conservatives dragging their feet on strengthening protections for children in the Online Safety Bill.”
Three of the girls also had private Instagram accounts which have been closed. TikTok is owned by Chinese firm Bytedance and they insist they have “zero tolerance for child sexual abuse and sexualised content of [...] any person under the age of 18”.
TikTok have said: “All of the accounts flagged, as well as those that interacted with them inappropriately, have been removed. TikTok will act on content or accounts that violate our minor safety policies.”
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