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Live matches, also known as player qualifiers or PK battles, have been a feature on TikTok since at least 2021, although TikTok makes no mention of the feature in your own website describing how live streaming works. Although the feature has been available for over two years, it’s not widely known, and to the uninitiated, TikTok battles can make little sense, with viewer counters, stickers, and endless comments crowding the screen as the two creators shout. and shout in an attempt to get their followers to donate more gifts.
Instead of making a coherent argument about the rights of Israelis or Palestinians during this crisis, broadcasters shout their side’s name or shout comments like, “Like, like, like” and “Follow me.”
The streams WIRED observed were viewed live by thousands of TikTok users. Today, just before this article was published, a push notification showed that the streamers were live once again.
The two streamers did not respond to WIRED’s messages about their battles.
The rise of TikTok live matches related to the war between Israel and Hamas was first highlighted by Abbie Richards, a researcher at the Accelerationism Research Consortium who specializes in tracking misinformation on TikTok. Richards said it was “disgusting to take advantage of atrocities.”
“So these are real people, sending real money to TikTokkers to express their support for the concept of Israel or Palestine,” Richards said in a video. posted on Instagram this week. “But do you know who is really making money from this? TikTok, because they take about half of the money that live creators make. This helps literally no one except these scammers and TikTok. “It’s fucking disgusting.”
TikTok did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment.
Many TikTok creators use the app’s live streaming feature to generate income, and some streamers broadcasting his entire life on the platform. The little-known “live match” feature on the popular video-sharing app allows two people to “battle” each other for five minutes at a time. The winner is the person who gets the most likes and gifts from his followers.
The strange phenomenon means that participating TikTokkers must encourage their followers to donate as many gifts as possible in order to “win.”
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