Migrant TikTok: This Is How Smugglers Might Use TikTok to Defraud Dreamers of Immigration
TikTok was supposed to be an application for entertainment, but it quickly turned into a space for political and social discussions and raised the concerns of experts and legislators.
The application was considered by New York Times king on the throne of social media platforms and described by Bloomberg as a money-making machine and the devourer of the internet by the Washington Post.
TikTok has become present in the debate about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and is accused of being a space for fraud and selling illusions to immigrants exploited by smugglers, per the Guardian. It was also considered the most prominent platform for spreading rumors and fake news before the upcoming US midterm elections next November and a haven for misogynists and extremists.
US Immigration Journey
The Guardian investigated the TikTok immigration videos and revealed that instead of showing the highly curated images of hotels and tourist attractions typical of travel snaps, TikTok immigration video shows the user sleeping in camps, at one point traveling by horseback and ultimately scaling what he calls "la famosa frontera de la muerte" or "the famous border of death" between the US and Mexico.
The newspaper added: "The user narrates in Spanish over dark images that appear to show him and his companions climbing the border wall. 'We are ready to climb the wall and run like a deer. Run, buddy, run, or immigration will catch you.'"
The video tries to document one young man's immigration experience from Ecuador to America. The Guardian emphasized that the video has been saved 10,000 times, has more than 170,000 likes, and nearly 2,500 comments – the vast majority of which are from people asking him for more information. Such as, "How much did you spend, and when did you do it?"
The search for the illegal immigration journey could be as simple as writing on the search bar "Viajes a USA" or "Travel to the US" to find a not-so-hidden corner of TikTok largely populated by videos and posts about migration, specifically from Latin America to the US.
Some of the posts seem to be from people documenting their own illegal migrant journeys. Yet, many appear to be from smugglers who offer services and advice for people seeking to immigrate from countries including Guatemala, Mexico, Ecuador, and Honduras.
The Guardian stressed: "It's hard to tell which of these posts are shared by real "coyotes" or human smugglers, and which are scams. In either case, there are risks of deep harm, and experts worry that these videos are spreading on the platform largely unchecked."
Illegal Journey to Italy
For years, the news of migrants and the dead "boats of death" has been leading the news of the Italian press, but the phenomenon known as Migrant TikTok that has recently spread among Tunisian influencers has given new dimensions to illegal immigration to Europe.
The Italian newspaper Il Mattino published in February 2022 the story of 2 Tunisian influencers on TikTok, saying that they arrived on the island of Lampedusa on a rubber boat with other illegal immigrants. All of them managed to complete their dangerous journey across the Mediterranean, and two girls documented the details of this unfamiliar journey. The videos were legal on TikTok, and within a few days, they posted selfies across Europe and inside luxury fashion stores.
The newspaper pointed out that the heroes of this story are Chaima Ben Mahmoude aged 21 and Sabee al Saidi aged 18. The newspaper accused them of promoting a charming and unrealistic journey that leads every year to the death of thousands of people in the depths of the sea. The two girls during this perilous journey appeared in full elegance and danced to the rhythm of music, and then after their arrival on the Italian island of Lampedusa, the first gateway to Europe for immigrants, they traveled around European capitals.
One of them took photos next to the Eiffel Tower and from inside a BMW. These photos gained the admiration of thousands of followers around the world.
The Italian newspaper Il Messaggero tried to analyze the phenomenon from a social point of view and met with psychiatrist Wael al-Qarawi, who believes that the reason behind everything that is happening is the "lie of immigration" in the hope of a better life in Europe, which is amplified by social media. He explained that illegal immigrants believe that they can easily reach Europe and then get a job and money because of what is being published in the media.
The newspaper pointed out that there were 2,048 migrants missing in the Mediterranean in 2021, bringing the total missing to 23,000 since 2014. Tunisia is also one of the main departure points for crossing from North Africa to Europe, and the Italian authorities arrested at least 23,000 people who tried to Sail illegally to Europe last year, an increase of 360% compared to 2019.
TikTok's Popularity
At first, TikTok's presence was not noticeable outside of Asia. But in 2017, the Chinese parent company ByteDance bought Musical.ly and quickly transferred its 100 million users to TikTok.
In September 2022, only about 4 years after the launch of the application, it attracted one billion users, and this is a milestone, as it took the Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram platforms 8 years to attract this number of users.
Although the number of people connected to the internet when it was launched is less than now, in 2020, TikTok was the most downloaded mobile application. While young people's enthusiasm for Facebook has subsided. The Chinese app has left them no room.
According to statistics firm eMarketer, 44 percent of American TikTok users are under 25, compared to 16 percent of Facebook users. The young age of TikTok users raises the scope of attention that must be given to the issue.
None of the social media platforms is 100% safe, but the fact that the percentage of users with young age is high in TikTok and the censorship is weak makes TikTok more dangerous for younger age users.
