A social media giant failed to stop British schoolgirls posting videos in their uniforms asking for cash from sick groomers.
Mobile app TikTok – used by millions of children – let the shocking clips remain online for MONTHS along with comments from their pervert ‘customers’.
Some of the clips of the four schoolgirls we reveal today appear to have been taken in classrooms and toilets. Three of them are thought to be from the same school.
The pupils used hashtags to boost followers such as ‘sugardaddy’ and ‘paypigs’ – web slang for men who make cash transfers to women who post X-rated images.
And they shared payment details with creeps who made comments like: “You’ve always got another career if your GCSEs fail.”
It was only when we showed our chilling evidence to TikTok today that the posts were removed. Three of them had private Instagram accounts which were also closed last night.
Some TikTok clips were uploaded as long ago as April. But despite the worrying hashtags – which should have raised alarm bells among the app’s 10,000 watchdog moderators – the videos remained despite a pledge from the £60billion app’s Chinese owner Bytedance to keep children safe.
The firm insists it has “zero tolerance for child sexual abuse and sexualised content of [...] any person under the age of 18” It defines it as “any visual, textual and audible depictions or production of explicit or inferred child sexual assault and child exploitation.”
But that was not backed up by what we uncovered. The Sunday Mirror was alerted to the schoolgirls’ posts by a horrified whistleblower. “This is every parent’s worst nightmare,” said our source who posed as a follower to gather evidence. “Everyone at TikTok should hang their heads in shame.”
The four had a total of 14,000 followers and 33,000 likes from potential predators hooked by their hashtags. Their pages showed no evidence of being moderated. Three of the four TikTok profiles also contained links to Instagram accounts. Those were private but featured biographies including words such as Goddess and Findom, a hashtag meaning ‘financial domination’. Instagram claims to have policies to protect children. This was not clear on visits to both sites where we found:
- SCHOOLGIRL 1: Her TikTok account had nearly 5,000 likes and shows her in uniform, She called herself an “alpha” and “goddess”. The videos had tags like “paypig” “findom”, “cashapp” and “schoolgirl” yet appeared undetected by TikTok’s filters. Posts included a video of legs in tights, captioned: “Where are all the beta men”. Screenshots show followers are sent her payment details via direct message. One uniform post in June got 260 likes, with comments including “tights” and a thumbs up emoji. Other men asked her to follow them back so they could message her. Predatory comments told her to “treat us like we deserve”, called her “sexy” and asked “how can I serve goddess.” One suggested a “spycam in your bedroom”. Another added: “Well this account hasn’t been banned yet, lol.” Her TikTok was linked to her Instagram showing devil emojis and her in uniform.
- SCHOOLGIRL 2: She had nearly a thousand followers and over 3,000 likes on TikTok. The profile was linked to her Instagram which showed a selfie in uniform and had the words “Findom, “UK” and “Goddess”.
It appeared she was at a different school to the others. She posted about turning “Sweet 16” last month, adding she was “paid for by the pigs”. When she would have apparently been 15, she did a TikTok dance in uniform captioned: “Money moneyy moneyyy you know I want urs”, with hashtags including “cashapp” “goddess” “paypigswelcomed” and “schoolgirrl”. In response, one follower claimed to “love [her] school tights” while another “would consider” her if they weren’t “serving another girl”. In other clips dating back nearly two months, she asked: “whos bank im draining next.”
- SCHOOLGIRL 3: Her TikTok had 19.8k likes and at least eight videos of her in uniform, one in what looked like a school loo, one in a classroom. A post in a bedroom had more than 90,000 views. Her page and name was linked to a her private Instagram with 1,000 followers. The accounts linked her to an Essex school, and her uniform matched girls 1 and 4.
- SCHOOLGIRL 4: She had 94,000 views over four TikTok posts back in April 11,when she posted a uniform clip in what seemed to be a school toilet. Tags include “paypal” “paypig” “schoolgirl” and it got more than a thousand likes.
Her TikTok was linked to a private Instagram account followed by nearly 14,000. Instagram and Facebook owner Meta, worth £465bn, has previously said the firm is “focused on preventing harm by banning suspicious profiles and restricting adults from messaging children they’re not connected with.” It claims its 10,000-plus moderators remove most offensive content before users see it.
But it has been criticised for failing to take down accounts showing children in swimwear or only partially clothed with hundreds of sexualised comments. Hannah Ruschen of the NSPCC said yesterday the four schoolgirls’ accounts “present a very clear risk of abuse to children”.
She added: “Grooming online is at record levels, with girls the victim in more than 80% of instances.”
Labour shadow culture minister Steph Peacock said: “This should shame Conservatives dragging their feet on strengthening protections for children in the Online Safety Bill.” TikTok said last night: “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.”
Meta said: “We have removed the accounts raised. We do all we can to keep content that sexualises children off our apps.”
Essex County Council said: “We provide robust safeguarding guidance to schools.” A Government spokesperson said: “Alongside the Online Safety Bill we have announced further amendments to ensure social media companies have a duty to take action to keep children safe.” The NSPCC Helpline is 0808 800 5000.
