The Scam Behind the Scroll

TikTok is a social media app that has only increased in popularity since its original launch in 2016. The app is mostly used by people to share short videos about various topics, from dancing to day-in-the-lives, comedy, and much more. The app has grown in popularity every day and so has the way people use it. For some people, TikTok has become more than just a fun way to spend spare time. TikTok offers individuals with large followings the ability to earn money from views and engagement on videos, and also the ability for those individuals to get scammed. 
 
Individuals making money on TikTok are often referred to as “influencers” or “content creators,” and most of their content revolves around sharing their lives and the tangible things that allow them to live their lives as they do. People follow these influencers because they like seeing how they live their lives and also because they want to be like them. And these viewers can get as close as possible by buying the products influencers are sharing on their platforms. These creators are then able to earn money from people buying the products they are promoting. How they do this is by engaging in what is often called a brand deal. Brand deals are paid partnerships between content creators and a brand. The content creator is paid a certain amount of money to advertise and promote what products or services the brand has. Brand deals often start with a negotiation and both parties entering into a contract. The contract includes obligations from both parties, like compensation, content requirements, and termination so that everyone is on the same page. Influencers normally get paid per video or set of videos, depending on the company and the influencer’s agreement. When it’s time to make the videos, the brand will often gift the product to the influencer or the influencer will disclose that they were paid to talk about the brand. Once the video has been posted to TikTok, the creator can earn money from the video and also from people buying the product through affiliate links. But this is also where the scamming comes in. 

I was scrolling through TikTok one day when I came across a video from Brittany, a creator by the handle nottacobellqween. She was talking about her experience working with a brand called Lemon8. Lemon8 is also owned by the same company as TikTok and incorporates some of the same elements as TikTok, as well as Instagram and Pinterest. Brittany entered into a contract with Lemon8 that included her reviewing the app on TikTok and promoting it. She outlined that she recorded the video and sent it to the brand for it to be reviewed. They sent it back and said that it looked perfect and added a caption and hashtags they wanted her to post with the video. She went ahead and posted it and minutes later, the brand was contacting her to take it down and try again because they had changed their mind about what they wanted the caption to be. Brittany took it down to comply with what the company wanted and changed the caption. When she reposted it, the brand approved and it stayed up for a couple of days. Brittany said that the video got decent engagement and people seemed to like the video and what she had to say about Lemon8. After a couple of days, however, the brand reached back out to Brittany and said that she needed to remove the video yet again and remove the tag that said it was a sponsored video. Not only would this put Brittany into a position where she would have to remove her video again, risking her professionalism and looking like she didn’t know what she was doing, but not disclosing that she’s getting paid for the video is illegal. She took the video down for good and responded to the company that she didn’t want to work with a company that was asking for something illegal and risked getting in trouble with the law. Brittany also included screenshots of how well the video went and asked to get compensated for the engagement that the ad had already gotten. Brittany never got paid for her work with Lemon8.

Brittany isn’t the only content creator working with brands like Lemon8. Scamming is becoming much more common as social media platforms continue to grow in popularity. Not only that, but brands are also targeting consumers directly, and viewers on these apps are also subject to scamming. Viewers and content creators alike can take steps on their own to ensure that scams on social media are less effective. The first is by doing thorough research on the company or brand before engaging in their products or a brand deal. Find where the brand is based and how the company was founded. Also, try and find reviews from real people who have worked with the brand before or have tried their products. These people will often tell you if buying or engaging is a good idea. Another way is by being aware of a sense of urgency. A lot of times, scammers will try and rush individuals into a deal or to buy something to create a sense of urgency and make people pay less attention to the details that would be obvious signs of a scam.