Between online prostitution and human trafficking

Syrian women trapped by live streaming apps

Syrian women have fallen into the trap of live streaming apps, finding themselves engaging in a form of organized digital prostitution (Syria Indicator/Enab Baladi)

Between online prostitution and human trafficking

Syrian women trapped by live streaming apps

Syrian women have fallen into the trap of live streaming apps, finding themselves engaging in a form of organized digital prostitution (Syria Indicator/Enab Baladi)

Syrian women have fallen into the trap of live streaming apps, finding themselves engaging in a form of organized digital prostitution (Syria Indicator/Enab Baladi)

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Hassan Ibrahim | Khaled al-Jeratli

This investigative report explores the spread of live streaming applications inside Syria and how many girls fall into the trap of these applications, finding themselves practicing a form of organized digital prostitution through a hierarchy in which the girls form the weakest link. They are lured in, or enter this world themselves under the pressure of economic decline, amidst many temptations and indirect but highly influential promotions due to various factors, including the presence of actors and celebrities active on these applications, as well as a state of “stardom” that they can achieve within these applications.

The investigation team from Syria Indicator / Enab Baladi spent dozens of hours across various apps, speaking with some Syrian women who work on them and gathering testimonies from current and former victims. They also contacted agents and companies.

She gazes into a small mirror, sighs deeply, then forces a smile onto her face. She plays a musical track on her computer, tries out a whispery voice full of sexual insinuations, and once assured that “everything is ready,” she takes one of her “work calls.”

She ensures that the call does not escalate to the point where she must undress this time, promising the caller “compensation next time.” She uses a vague excuse: “The situation doesn’t allow it,” but keeps a crucial detail to herself: she is currently at her official government job, separated from her colleagues by a thin door that could open at any moment.

The use of live streaming apps in public places indicates their rapid spread in Syria, with many Syrians becoming involved in virtual prostitution in many cases (Syria Indicator/Enab Baladi)

The use of live streaming apps in public places indicates their rapid spread in Syria, with many Syrians becoming involved in virtual prostitution in many cases (Syria Indicator/Enab Baladi)

This is not a scene from a film or series but a reality that is being repeated, albeit with different details, in many public offices in Syria. Here, some female employees engage in “another job” through chat applications that have become “a genuine source of income,” while their official job salary barely covers transportation costs and the minimum expenses associated with the job itself.

Using these apps in public places offers the clearest indication of their rapid spread in Syria, with many Syrian women becoming involved to varying degrees, often engaging in online prostitution.

Rising phenomenon

Noha (33 years old) discovered the SoulChill voice chat app about two years ago through her colleagues at her government office. She started using it to conduct voice chats with strangers for an “ordinary” but enticing income.

Noha has a friend who has been in the same field for over four years, encouraging her by claiming that her monthly income could reach “significant” amounts if she could attract some young men, especially from the Gulf region.

Enticed by the fact that she wouldn’t need to show her face, reveal her name, or disclose any real personal details, Noha dove into the job and continues to this day.

SoulChill is just one of many similar apps that have become popular in Syria since 2021, increasing in prevalence from 2023. Under the weight of economic decline, many Syrian women fell into the trap, finding themselves practicing various levels of online prostitution, ranging from those who set certain limits to those who go as far as possible virtually speaking.

More than 100 hours were spent by the investigation team inside the applications Bigo Live, Likee, SoulChill, Lamour, and Solo, where they interviewed Syrian women who are active on these platforms (Syria Indicator/Enab Baladi)

More than 100 hours were spent by the investigation team inside the applications Bigo Live, Likee, SoulChill, Lamour, and Solo, where they interviewed Syrian women who are active on these platforms (Syria Indicator/Enab Baladi)

Behind the scenes: Sexual jokes and virtual prostitution

The investigation team spent over 100 hours on applications like Bigo Live, Likee, SoulChill, Lamour, Solo and managed to interview some Syrian women working on them.

Most of those the team spoke to said their “profession” requires discretion due to social stigma.

Thus, Noha waits for her family to sleep before starting to use the app and talks at night to young men from different nationalities, mostly “from the Gulf countries and Syrian refugees in European countries.”

During the day, she uses the app while at her government job without major fears, especially since some of her colleagues also work on the same app.

According to Noha, conversations usually start casually but quickly turn into “dirty jokes” (referring to sexual innuendos). If she doesn’t respond even minimally, she loses the chance of financial support that the “joker” might offer through live streaming.

Not all women working on these apps are worried about social stigma. The Syria Indicator / Enab Baladi team observed several girls on Bigo Live, for instance, showing their faces on live streams and asking for a certain amount of “beans” to conduct a video call via Snapchat after the livestream.

After several unsuccessful attempts to conduct an interview as journalists with workers on the Lamour app, the investigation team decided to arrange a paid video call (via the app itself) with a girl calling herself “Koko,” who later revealed her name as Maha.

“Koko” or Maha appeared “experienced,” following a sequence of steps for any video call with clients on the app. She was fully adorned as if going to a private, luxurious party.

“Koko” began working on the Lamour app months ago, gaining experience dealing with “men looking for an entertaining night.”

The young woman insists she harbors no personal feelings for her “clients,” saying: “It’s just a passing call; it will end, and I’ll look for another one (..) I am a married woman with my own life and won’t have personal feelings through a messaging app.”

Network promotion and spread in universities

Young women are lured into working on these types of apps in various ways, most commonly through social media, especially Facebook, where anonymous accounts post ads for “work-from-home with good pay for girls.”

An effective method seems to be similar to network marketing, where one girl recruits another, who in turn recruits a new girl, and so on.

Christina (a pseudonym), a 21-year-old university student in Hama province, learned about the Lamour app through her friend, also a university student. Christina said she entered the world of Lamour without a clear idea of what was happening behind the scenes. She tried to earn money away from online sex but couldn’t last more than two weeks and soon decided to quit.

A screenshot showing the Bigo Live application (Syria Indicator/Enab Baladi)

A screenshot showing the Bigo Live application (Syria Indicator/Enab Baladi)

The young woman confirmed that these apps are “widespread” among university students and discovered that one of her friends was helping to promote the Lamour app due to her relationship with one of the app’s agents, who later became her fiancé. This relationship didn’t prevent her from engaging in online prostitution within the app or through private calls on direct communication apps like WhatsApp and Messenger.

One of the investigation team members tried to contact that friend, pretending to seek work in the app through her agent fiancé. She requested a deposit of 500,000 Syrian pounds at an exchange office in Hama as the first step before any further communication.

The request for direct financial transfer forms one way of unofficial earnings, where a working girl may communicate with a client through other means, asking for money in various ways.

A screenshot showing the Bigo Live application (Syria Indicator/Enab Baladi)

A screenshot showing the Bigo Live application (Syria Indicator/Enab Baladi)

Money cycle

Earnings from such apps rely on a target policy, requiring workers to accumulate a certain number of points monthly to cash out their earnings.

These points have different names across apps. For instance, on Bigo Live, they are called “beans,” collected via gifts sent by the audience during live streaming or through in-app calls.

During our conversation with Koko, she said she doesn’t mind undressing in front of the camera but won’t do so until five minutes into the call. She earns by spending the maximum time possible on a video call, always aiming to extend the call duration.

Of course, the “client” has to pay in this scenario; conducting a call within the app requires spending credits corresponding to the call duration.

While she’s willing to go far in meeting clients’ demands, the young woman insists on maintaining partial anonymity, dealing with all parts of her body as work tools and only showing her lips from her face. She relies on the privacy features provided by the app, preventing screenshots within the app itself.

Workers in these apps are connected to the parent company through local agents, who set the monthly target for each worker.

In the Syrian context, with restrictions on foreign money transfers, the agent, primarily residing outside Syria, is responsible for delivering funds to team members inside Syria through black-market transactions after deducting a percentage of the full amount.

Maha mentioned earning between 200,000 to 500,000 Syrian pounds monthly (35 dollars at most), while Noha said her earnings were 30 dollars at the start of her work on SoulChill but reached 300 dollars a month after two years of work.

Although these amounts are meager when calculated in dollars, their value in Syrian pounds vastly exceeds average salaries amidst the pound’s depreciation, with one dollar equaling 14,700 Syrian pounds according to the S-P Today website, specializing in exchange rate tracking at the time of writing this report.

According to Salary Explorer, a site specializing in tracking average monthly incomes globally, the average salary inside Syria is 149,000 Syrian pounds (approximately 10 dollars and 15 cents). It is considered high if it reaches 663,000 Syrian pounds (around 45 dollars), per the same source.

Lamour app subscriptions and recharging credit (Screenshot – Syria Indicator/Enab Baladi)

Lamour app subscriptions and recharging credit (Screenshot – Syria Indicator/Enab Baladi)

Support mechanism?

Financial support on apps involves spending real money to buy virtual currencies within the app itself, usable for purchasing icons gifted to content creators via these platforms.

In Bigo Live, a content creator’s supporter has to buy “diamonds,” with the smallest package (192 diamonds) costing five US dollars, payable via Credit Card, Master Card, or Visa Card.

A screenshot showing the prices of diamonds in Turkish lira (Syria Indicator/Enab Baladi)

A screenshot showing the prices of diamonds in Turkish lira (Syria Indicator/Enab Baladi)

The cost of the package and the number of diamonds vary depending on the buyer’s location, as shown in the app’s purchasing mechanisms, which apply to other similar apps.

After purchasing a number of diamonds, users can go to the gift feature to buy an icon and gift it to the content creator, provided that the content creator is available on the live streaming feature. The prices of these icons vary, starting from one diamond up to the most expensive one at 39999 diamonds, which is an icon in the shape of a ‘Luxury Yacht‘.

An image from one of the apps showing the gifts being purchased (Syria Indicator/Enab Baladi)

An image from one of the apps showing the gifts being purchased (Syria Indicator/Enab Baladi)

The gift is translated into the content creator’s account as beans, which form the account owner’s target. This varies depending on the age of the account, and monthly salaries also vary depending on the content creator’s place of residence.

Irrespective of “beans” and “diamonds” figures, agents require content creators to conduct live streams for a minimum of 30 hours monthly, with no more than three daily hours as a basic condition for earning the full monthly salary, alongside achieving the monthly “bean target.”

Astronomical amounts

Huge financial sums circulate within these applications. Although users engage with them in the form of icons and symbols, their actual value is paid in US dollars.

One of the main sources of these currencies are the “supporters,” and one of them may spend astronomical amounts.

Basil, a young Syrian residing in Europe, manages an account on the Bigo Live app, which is classified as one of the largest accounts on the app in terms of support and receiving financial support. He confirmed to the investigation team that the past three years, which coincided with the deteriorating living conditions in Syria, have increased Syrian women’s turnout to these applications.

The live broadcasts of these girls cannot be tracked when searching within the application in the Syrian region, as they often use apps that show their geographical locations in Gulf countries to find “regular supporters” from those countries.

Basil compares this mechanism to “adoption,” linking it to examples of many girls he knows well in the app. He explains that the girl looks for a wealthy person who uses the app daily and sends her gifts that exceed what she needs to collect to achieve her “target.” In return, she refuses to interact with other young men on the app.

The goal of the “supporter” is not clear. Some are looking for virtual relationships, while others seek “virtual prestige” in a way that reminds of those who lavish money on dancers in nightclubs. A single supporter might spend more than 10,000 US dollars within a few hours on one of the applications.

The possibility of using these applications for money laundering or paying for prohibited materials through a specific hierarchy cannot be excluded. However, documenting this hypothesis involves many complexities that the Syria Indicator / Enab Baladi team is working on verifying in a separate investigation.

Agents recruit girls and control money

Agents constitute a fundamental link in the payment cycle within the application. These individuals receive rights from the app’s management to recruit content creators (which may be called broadcasters or streamers). They serve as intermediaries between them and the app.

The agent receives a percentage of the salary of everyone working in his agency, ranging between approximately 10% and 17% on the SoulChill audio app (Screenshot – Syria Indicator/Enab Baladi)

The agent receives a percentage of the salary of everyone working in his agency, ranging between approximately 10% and 17% on the SoulChill audio app (Screenshot – Syria Indicator/Enab Baladi)

Some apps require a security deposit amounting to up to 20,000 dollars per agent to ensure they do not steal the earnings of those who work with them since they are responsible for receiving the dues and then transferring them to their owners, especially in Syria’s case.

The agent receives a certain percentage of the earnings of each person working in his agency. On the SoulChill voice chat app, this percentage ranges between approximately 10% and 17%.

Applications usually approve who applies to work as an “agent” if they meet the required conditions, primarily ensuring the recruitment of a certain number of content creators (most agents prefer women) and paying the security deposit.

Agents play a role in securing supporters for girls, as it ensures the continuity of their work and profit. If “enough supporters are not secured, the girls resort to other agencies,” according to Noha.

Famous actors as active users

After repeated attempts to contact agents in the Bigo Live app, a manager from one of the largest Arabic agencies, a Syrian national, agreed to speak to the investigation team on condition of anonymity, requesting to be referred to as “Abu al-Majd.”

In the agency he manages, dozens of individuals with some of the largest accounts on the Syrian level are active, including Syrian artists and actors. The investigation team refrains from giving examples to avoid revealing the agency’s or manager’s identity.

Some well-known Syrian figures are seeking financial returns within Bigo Live, including actors of both genders whom Syrians are accustomed to seeing on television in dramatic works. They often appear in challenges where the one who gets the most support wins.

Syrian actor Yazan al-Sayed previously mentioned on the “Fi Fakh” program that he earned the equivalent of 200 million Syrian pounds in one month from his activities on Bigo Live.

The presence of actors on these applications has faced criticism, especially due to the lack of regulations in these live broadcasts regarding speech, behavior, or participant selection, unlike in dramatic works.

Famous Syrian actors appear regularly in Bigo Live broadcasts, including Deema Bayyaa, Lilia al-Atrash, Sawsan Mikhael, Yazan al-Sayed, Walid Hasweh, Jenny Esber, Abeer Shams al-Din, Laith al-Mufti, Jihan Abdulazim, Rana al-Abyad, and others.

Abu al-Majd is originally from rural Aleppo and currently resides in Turkey. He told the investigation team that he has been managing this agency for years. He describes himself as “the link between the company and the broadcaster or content creator,” explaining that the work hierarchy starts from Bigo Live’s headquarters in Singapore and relies on agents to transfer money to content creators, according to him.

The agent’s work requires a set of conditions, according to Abu al-Majd, the first being that they must reside outside Syria due to the lack of Syrian banks that facilitate financial transactions, and they must have a commercial account to receive money exclusively in US dollars.

The company does not care about how the money reaches the content creator through the agent, what matters is that the money arrives, even if transfer fees are deducted or if it is transferred through the black market, as is the case in Syria.

Hierarchy and distribution of responsibilities

Abu al-Majd explains the app’s work hierarchy, noting that an agent needs a group of “admins” (sometimes referred to as managers or supervisors) to oversee the content of the broadcasters or individuals affiliated with the agency, which includes “more than 3,000 members.” With the growing number of members, coordination becomes difficult for the agent to manage alone; hence, assistants, known as “admins,” are needed.

An admin receives a monthly salary (which varies from one agency to another) for their efforts in communicating with broadcasters, coordinating work with the agency, overseeing content, and paying particular attention to online challenges and support exchange among broadcasters.

A challenge involves a live broadcast where two or more broadcasters compete, with the winner being the one who receives the most support or gifts within the specified broadcast time. The winner dares the loser to do something on air. When the loser is a girl, the dares often involve sexual innuendos or provocative acts like “turn off the light and strip,” “pour water on yourself and dance,” or “lie on the floor and suck your finger,” etc.

Support exchange involves lending some of the agency members a number of bean icons to complete their monthly target.

Not only in Syria 

Through the monitoring conducted by the Syria Indicator / Enab Baladi investigation team within the applications after subscribing to them, trying their features, following the girls and their live streams, and communicating with some of them, it became evident that some broadcasters use these apps for online prostitution. This practice is not limited to Syria but is prevalent in many Arab countries, including Egypt, Lebanon, and Iraq, as well as other countries like Turkey, Russia, Europe, and Latin American countries.

The “clients” and male users of the applications are also divided into types, sharing a wide range of goals, from seeking virtual sexual services to those looking for entertainment and filling time without delving into sexual conversations. This type of application users tend not to spend money. There are also those who claim to be searching for “brides” and those who hunt down girls to later exploit them in actual prostitution.

The clients among male app users vary between those looking for virtual sexual services and those seeking entertainment and just passing time (Syria Indicator/Enab Baladi)

The clients among male app users vary between those looking for virtual sexual services and those seeking entertainment and just passing time (Syria Indicator/Enab Baladi)

From Bigo Live to real sexual exploitation

Noor (a pseudonym for a 27-year-old divorced woman) met her former “fiancé” through the Bigo Live app two years ago.

Their relationship started with a call within the app that only included “general talks and pleasant jokes,” followed by a few calls that followed a repeated routine: flirtation, jokes, hints, then an open desire to have sex with her, but he always ended the call before she could fully undress, citing different excuses.

He finally decided to “confess” that he felt “genuine affection” towards her, which made him hesitant to push her to undress in front of the camera.

That approach succeeded in winning her over, especially since she had started to feel some “familiarity and admiration” towards him.

The communication took a new turn into emotional flirtation after she gave him her phone number and he began messaging her on WhatsApp. After a few weeks, they agreed to meet in person.

On the agreed day, the young man came to Damascus (where she resides) from Beirut, as she thought. (She later discovered that he lied, and all that connected him to Lebanon were occasional visits and a phone number he used to communicate with her.)

They met in an apartment he claimed belonged to his friend and spent a few hours having sex. Similar meetings were repeated a few times. She quit the app and closed her account after he convinced her that he would officially propose to her and talk to her family, who lived in one of the rural villages of Hama.

Girls active in broadcasting on the apps fall victim to sexual violence as a result of relationships with men seeking sex (Syria Indicator/Enab Baladi)

Girls active in broadcasting on the apps fall victim to sexual violence as a result of relationships with men seeking sex (Syria Indicator/Enab Baladi)

“Everything changed” when she was surprised on one occasion by the presence of another young man with him, claiming to be his friend and the apartment owner, who would have dinner with them and then leave. However, things escalated later, and she found herself in the friend’s arms under the influence of alcohol and hashish.

Following that incident, Noor was caught in a whirlwind for a few weeks, during which she had sex with several of his “friends” after he revealed another side and threatened to expose her.

Noor does not know if “fate saved her.” All she knows is that the young man suddenly stopped communicating with her before the end of last year, despite her agreeing to travel with him to Beirut for a “New Year’s Eve of a lifetime.”

She says she tried to contact him several times, but all his numbers were “out of service” before deciding to change her phone number, place of residence, and continue her life “in the way she likes.”

Syrian law does not criminalize E-prostitution

Syrian laws do not directly criminalize E-prostitution, as confirmed by lawyer and international investigator Anwar al-Muhaimid.

Despite the issuance of Law No. 20 of 2022, which provides for the “reorganization of the penal legal rules for the cybercrime” included in Legislative Decree 17 of 2012, “the direct aim of the law is to enshrine the suppression of freedom of expression and the pursuit of opponents and critics of the Syrian regime’s authority, rather than developing legislation to keep pace with the rapid development in the Internet world,” according to al-Muhaimid.

With the companies owning these applications based in foreign countries, it becomes difficult to pursue them even if intentions are available. On the other hand, these companies may not be violating the laws of the countries where they were established, making it nearly impossible to prosecute them, although this does not include agents and promoters, for example.

Furthermore, al-Muhaimid explains that any legal pursuit attempt may place virtual prostitution under the category of “crimes against morals and public decency.” However, the process will face the fact that “the criminal elements are incomplete, especially since the crimes mentioned in the Penal Code are related to direct physical action on another’s body, which is impossible here with each party in a different location.”

Former Syrian judge, Shaza Kilo, confirms to Syria Indicator / Enab Baladi that there is no text criminalizing online prostitution in Syrian law, but judges rely on interpretations when dealing with such types of cases.

Kilo, formerly a public prosecution judge and currently residing in France, explains that a person accused of a related issue is often subjected to articles dealing with “offenses against public morals and decency.”

Article 517 of the Syrian Penal Code of 1949, amended by Legislative Decree No. 1 of 2011, states that “assaulting public decency by any of the means mentioned in the first paragraph of Article 208 is punishable by imprisonment from three months to three years.” Article 518 of the same law states that “assaulting public morals by any of the means mentioned in the second and third paragraphs of Article 208 is punishable by imprisonment from three months to three years and a fine of thirty to three hundred Syrian pounds.”

Article 208 is concerned with explaining the means of “publicity,” defining them as:

  1. Actions and movements if they took place in a public space, or a space accessible for the public or visible, or if observed by outsiders/third parties due to the fault of the person carrying them [actions and movements] out.
  2. Speech or shouting whether uttered openly or transmitted by mechanical means whereby they [the speech or shouting] are heard by third parties.
  3. Writings, paintings, pictures (whether manual or solar [taken by camera], videos, signs, and all kinds of photography if displayed in public or in a space that is accessible for public or visible, or if sold or presented for sale, or if distributed to one person or more’.

The law did not provide a definition for public decency or morals, leaving the assessment of acts that violate them to judicial interpretations. Meanwhile, the Syrian Court of Cassation considers that “the crimes of assaulting public decency and morals share one idea: protecting the general public’s feelings from being offended by the boldness against the rules, morals, and virtues that people have accustomed to respecting.” However, they differ in the means of publicity: “If the means are actions and movements, the crime is assaulting public decency, and if it is speech and shouting or other means of expression such as writing and drawing, the crime is assaulting public morals,” as explained by the Specialized Legal Encyclopedia website, specialized in Syrian law.

Turning “victims” into “criminals”

Prostitution charges in Syria are subject to “determining factors and conditions that must be present to describe or define the crime,” explains Syrian lawyer Hassan al-Shahaf to Syria Indicator / Enab Baladi.

Al-Shahaf explains that virtual sexual services are not classified as prostitution, as physical contact between the parties is necessary to charge prostitution.

Promoting sexual services via live streaming platforms and then secretly providing these services after exchanging numbers, for example, can be classified as “human trafficking,” as explained by al-Shahaf.

However, this classification is not always applied, and cases of this type have reached Syrian courts, leading to accusing the involved women of “violating public morals” and being charged with practicing prostitution via the internet.

The classification difference is not merely formal, but it involves shifting women who were lured or enticed to work on these applications from the “victim” category if the Anti-Human Trafficking Law is applied, to the “criminal” category if the Penal Code is applied.

The Anti-Human Trafficking Law in Article 4 of Chapter 3 states that “human trafficking includes recruiting, transporting, kidnapping, deporting, sheltering, or receiving persons for illegal purposes for financial or moral gain or a promise of it or granting benefits or seeking to achieve any of this or otherwise.” It clearly states that “the victim’s consent should not be considered” in all cases.

Explicit content violates user agreement

In the sixth clause of the user agreement published on the official Bigo Live application website, the company owning the application (headquartered in Singapore) prohibits involvement in pornography and displaying “private body parts” in any form.

The clause did not specify the private parts considering they vary from culture to culture and country to country, while the Syria Indicator / Enab Baladi team monitored content on the application based on displaying body parts in exchange for financial rewards.

Among the accounts that the team documented activity in this context is an account of a girl using a pseudonym (the team refrains from mentioning its name to avoid promotion), whose entire content is based on displaying the lower part of her body from the thighs to the feet, asking for support in the form of the application’s currency (beans) in exchange for a “night out” with the biggest supporter.

Viewers of the content race to provide support, hoping for the “night out” promised by the account holder, a Syrian girl of unknown identity whose face never appeared during the live broadcast or even in the recorded videos she publishes on the account.

The account’s geographical location shows that its manager resides in Syria, without specifying the province, reinforced by the poor internet connection during live broadcasts, which vary in quality from time to time.

The investigation team also documented video recordings of some content creators through the video feature, similar to the reels feature on Instagram, many of which are pornographic based on showing body parts or using random tools for sexual implications, violating the seventh clause of the application’s usage rules.

In the first clause of the “General Violations” section, the Bigo Live application has banned smoking, but smoking cigarettes or hookahs is widespread among content creators, documented by our investigative team with audio and video.

Algorithms favors nudity

“There are significant changes in the standards of nudity within social media applications in general, not just the applications covered by this investigation,” according to Obayda Abu Qwaider, a Syrian expert in technology and information security.

Abu Qwaider told Syria Indicator / Enab Baladi that the concept of nudity has changed today compared to before; appearing in front of the camera in revealing clothes is no longer associated with nudity. A content provider could be a “model” displaying swimwear, so what she offers cannot be classified under nudity or be censored for violating standards.

Abu Qwaider points to the role of algorithms in promoting content that attracts the largest number of active users, as retaining them provides an opportunity for financial gain through advertisements, making nudity a cornerstone.

The information security expert confirms that blocking explicit content from the platforms is very easy if the administrators desire it. “The platforms themselves block part of the content related to Palestine and Syria, for example, based on political orientation, so they are capable of blocking any other unwanted content.”

How Bigo Live responded

Among the companies named in the investigation, JOYY Inc, the owner of Bigo Live app, responded to questions posed by the investigation team about the seriousness of controlling content on its platform and the supervision imposed on sexual or nudity-based content.

The company stated that its platform “takes any claims regarding inappropriate content or behavior seriously” and prioritizes the safety and well-being of its users, especially “vulnerable groups such as minors.”

Despite “strict terms of use prohibiting such activities,” the company acknowledges the existence of “individuals engaging in prohibited behavior.” To combat this, the company details organizing a “multi-step content oversight process that operates 24/7.”

The company’s management explained that the oversight process is designed to identify inappropriate public content using “a combination of advanced AI management technology” and content inspection “by a team of 6,000 global supervisors to quickly identify and correct issues related to violations.”

Determining the user’s age represents “technical challenges” according to Bigo Live, and the application allows the new user to set their age upon creating an account. It also relies on “content analysis methods and analyzing the language or phrases used by people.”

The response of JOYY Inc, the owner of Bigo Live, to questions raised by the investigation team about the seriousness of content regulation on its platform and the enforcement of sexual content restrictions (Syria Indicator/Enab Baladi)

The response of JOYY Inc, the owner of Bigo Live, to questions raised by the investigation team about the seriousness of content regulation on its platform and the enforcement of sexual content restrictions (Syria Indicator/Enab Baladi)

False claims of protection

The assertions of JOYY Inc, the owner of Bigo Live, contradict the reality of the application containing accounts of minor users of both genders.

For example, the investigation team, without using artificial intelligence, documented an account of a minor girl from Syria’s Tartus province, who started her journey on the platform about three years ago and continues to this day, noting that she was 17 years old in May, according to what she said during a live broadcast.

User reports are crucial and “invaluable” in the “comprehensive” oversight approach described by the company, as they “provide important insights that help quickly identify and address misconduct,” thus “enhancing adherence to maintaining a safe platform for all users.”

The company added that it cooperates “with law enforcement agencies and regulatory authorities to address any illegal activities or violations of terms of service.”

The operating company of the SoulChill application did not provide a mechanism to contact them through its official website; therefore, the investigation team contacted the customer support service within the application and received no response by the time of publishing this investigation.

The team did not find it necessary to contact Likee and Tango companies, as they belong to the same Bigo Live company, as listed on their official website.

A billion-dollar company

JOYY Inc is a global technology company headquartered in Singapore, owning many social apps and sites, including Bigo Live, Likee for short videos, Hago for multiple gameplay modes, an instant messaging product, and others.

The company operates through two sectors: BIGO and other products.

The BIGO sector comprises many social entertainment platforms, including Bigo Live, Likee, imo, and others, while the other products sector mainly consists of Hago, Shopline, and platforms dedicated to voice live streaming.

Bigo Live allows users to share their life moments, showcase their talents, socialize, and connect with other users, while Likee enables users to easily discover, create, and share short videos using creation tools like filters, special effects, and AI-powered personalized feeds.

Hago offers games integrating social features, such as multi-user voice and video chat rooms, and 3D interactive virtual party games.

The revenue index of JOYY Inc on the American TV channel “CNBC” website was 2.249 billion USD at the time of this investigation writing, while the company’s market value was 1.991 billion USD.

 

Investigation team:

Editors: Khaled al-Jeratli – Hassan Ibrahim

Visual content and technical support: Abdul Moeen Homs

Editing and drafting: Suhaib Anjrini

Translation: Olaa Soulaiman

Supervision: Ali Eid

 

النسخة العربية من المقال

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