How TikTok make money from influencers promoting crime in UK | UK | News [Video]

Experts have revealed the ways social media networks TikTok and Instagram are profiting from having creators promoting a criminal lifestyle in the UK on their platforms.

A six-month Express investigation found one of Albania’s biggest online celebrities, Aleks Visha, rose to fame through live online tours of UK cannabis farms and boasts about his criminal exploits.

And, according to Albanian social media expert Tomi Kallanxhi, TikTok’s system enabling fans to tip their favourite online stars with real cash meant he was a good source of revenue.

Since 2021, the Chinese-owned company has allowed users to buy credits in its online store they can then use to send ‘gifts’ to creators of videos they watch. This digital ‘present’ can then be redeemed by the online star after TikTok has taken a 50% commission.

Social media celebrities frequently encourage viewers to send them money via the social media platform, competing against each other in crude video games to generate more donations.

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