SUQIAN, CHINA – SEPTEMBER 13, 2023 – TikTok Shop, Suqian, Jiangsu Province, China, September 13, 2023. TikTok has officially launched its e-commerce service TikTok Shop in the US.
High schoolers are testing out their social media marketing skills with a new side gig: TikTok Shop. Teens on the app are bringing in millions of views using the new feature, despite the fact that TikTok forbids minors from applying to the program.
NBC News identified six TikTok accounts that have published dozens of TikTok Shop videos over the past two weeks. The creators all identified publicly as under the age of 18.
In a statement responding to questions about the presence of teens on TikTok Shop, a TikTok representative said, “As TikTok Shop rolls out in the US, we continue to evolve our safeguards and are taking steps to address this issue.” TikTok asks users for their age when signing up for an account, which offers a loophole — kids can pretend to be older.
The findings are the latest demonstration of how users are quickly taking advantage of the relatively new TikTok Shop functionality to make money. The feature, launched in September, has rapidly gained popularity and TikTok has appeared to struggle to moderate how people are using it. It also demonstrates the rapid influence that TikTok Shop’s new system, which encourages the fast production of internet advertising by creators, is having on the internet.
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Some teens appear to have jumped onboard as well, posting videos that look like they’re shot in high schools with backgrounds showing lockers, desks and hallways. Some are even recorded during class.
Read the full story on NBCNews.com here.
