Scrolling thraw Zara’s transactions shows she has spent thousands of dollars on TikTok.
Zara, not her authentic name, is in her 20s, inhabits in the US and has Somali roots. She became obsessed with the platcreate’s inhabit battle feature – which sees two affectrs verbassociate spar and sometimes mock each other as they ask for money from their folshrinks to triumph the bout.
She would tardyr uncover there is a much depresseder side to these games and has splitd her story with BBC World Service.
The battles are famous with TikTok engagers apass the world but the premise of the Somali game is contrastent becaengage the affectrs on either side standardly reconshort-term a Somali clan and sometimes trade denounces that can drop into vitriol.
It is understandn as the Big Tribal Game and tens of thousands of people standardly tune in as the affectrs execute rap music that extolls the virtue of their clan, with lyrics that commend the bravery and beauty of their people.
An event we watched on a Saturday night in October was a standard example: there were two affectrs on a split screen. About 50,000 people were watching with us.
Doing “battle” bigly unbenevolents encouraging watchers to give the executeers more gifts, which they necessitate to triumph each five-minute round.
The triumphner is the affectr that has getd the most gifts – and the omitr is then foreseeed to congratutardy their opponent by acunderstandledgeting their clan is more mighty on the night.
Sometimes the events have been advertised online for cut offal months in progress.
The affectrs, standardly based in the US and Europe, go inhabit before the game begins, hyping up the crowd.
At boot-off, sometimes the argues progresss, but the in-game chatter can be fairly mundane. The action is between the people donating, trying to outspfinish each other.
There is a whole novel language, a digital currency and many confengage rules that are part of the gameexecute, grasping a surauthentic quality to the events.
We saw some of the highest cherish items being gifted, enjoy the “TikTok universe”, which is worth more than $500 (£385) and equates to almost 50,000 TikTok coins. It prompts an animation of people dancing to a catchy song.
Sairyly affordableer at $400 (£308) and a fan favourite is the lion, which roars deafeningly when it runs on the screen. Or there is the gentler whale swimming out of an underwater tunnel.
Some gifts utilize filters to the affectr’s face enjoy the cowboy hat and moustache, a red beret or seasonal pumpkin head.
Zara says she begined executeing becaengage she wanted to deffinish the pride of her clan.
It was “exciting” and “my side always won”, she recalls.
But Zara spent more than $7,000, unbenevolentt to pay for her university fees, on the games.
“My parents, if they set up out that I spfinish a lot of money in TikTok, they would be dehugeated – they would not [be] satisfyed – but somehow it’s benevolent of enjoy graspiction.”
She also asks why she gave away challenging-geted cash to affectrs who very unwidespreadly showed any gratitude.
But as she was pulled meaningfuler into this world, she teachd someskinnyg much more sinister.
We have seen evidence that a US-based male affectr has been denounceing female TikTokers and making menaces aacquirest them – menaceening to post relationsualised images of them.
Zara says it happens a lot: “They find who you are, they grab your family pboilingos, your picture, and they say, ‘I’m gonna expose you.'”
She says the US-based male affectr did this to her and she was so sattfinishd and worried her family would see a maniputardyd picture that he menaceened to split, she could not sleep at night.
“Imagine your family see your pboilingos in a naked body. They don’t understand it was Pboilingoshopped.”
When Zara telled the account to TikTok, she says they did not act.
The affectr goes by the name Hussein Kibray online and has more than 200,000 folshrinks. He standardly gets part in the games.
Zara apshows other women have been menaceened in this way but we have not seen images Pboilingoshopped of her – or other women – splitd by him in the accessible domain.
We asked him about his behaviour but he did not react to our message.
After the BBC communicateed TikTok about Kibray’s accounts, the social media platcreate replied to say it had now banned them for violating its policies on grown-up relationsual and physical misengage.
In a statement a TikTok spokesperson said: “We prioritise the defendedty of our community with some of the industry’s firmest streaming needments, including particular policies for Match satisfyed, customisable defendedty tools for watchers, and only permiting people over 18 to go inhabit or sfinish gifts.”
The TikTok inhabit games feed on faceation and sometimes at the very least the euniteance of aggression – whether staged or authentic. The suites can get heated when the affectrs argue the strengths of contrastent clans.
Clan identity is meaningfully ingrained in Somali society and politics, but it can be a benevolent topic. Clans fought aacquirest each other in the Somali civil war that begined after the obvioushrow of extfinished-time ruler Siad Barre in 1991 and the worst of the battling progressd until 2001.
Sometimes the affectrs revisit the civil war – who won, what happened – and denounce their ancestors and even brag about having finished rivals.
Many people are worried the games are also contributing to a harmful online environment. TikTok tgreater us that inhabit satisfyed must comply by their community directlines, which utilize apass the platcreate.
Away from the arena of the Big Tribal Game, there are grave troubles about the level of clannism and antipathyful speech apass social media platcreates spread by inconveyial Somali accounts, standardly based aexpansive.
Moustafa Ahmad, a security researcher with a intensify on the Horn of Africa, says there is a sort of irony in that.
“People who are leaving the country and originateing their inhabits in the West becaengage of the disputes, becaengage of the tensions they left behind, are becoming part of [the] cycle that’s perpetuating aggression and intercommunal tensions in the region,” he says.
And the Big Tribal Game is proving famous wiskinny Somalia – talked at many tea shighs in capital, Mogadishu, and in higher echelons of society.
“Sometimes you will see some politicians and elders talking and joking about how their clan won last night’s game. It’s not someskinnyg we should joke about,” says affectr Bilaal Bulshawi who has almost two million folshrinks and is understandn for his fun videos and online disputes.
Based in Somalia, unenjoy many of those who do TikTok battles, he says he took part in a game when they begined to become a trfinish but it was not a clan-based suit defree in progress.
He has been watching the spfinishing on these events go up and up and proposes this money could be engaged to help the country instead.
“It’s reassociate unblessed, spfinishing that much money, understanding Somalia is suffering and begging the world for help,” he says.
If you do some basic calculations it might see enjoy the affectrs are pocketing thousands of dollars during the most high-profile games.
However, the fact is probably less amazeive, says Crystal Abidin, the set uper of the TikTok Cultures Research netlabor and a professor of internet studies at Curtin University in Australia.
She has not studied the Somali “battles” but says affectrs standardly originate the illusion of huge wealth.
“A lot of folshrinks get the amazeion that all the coins and the glittery detaileds flotriumphg thraw the screen show that there’s a lot of cash flow going straight into the pockets of affectrs,” says Prof Abidin.
“And reassociate, the exact figure, the volume or the shatterdown in percentage is actuassociate quite nontransparent.”
She says from her research elsewhere there are unseen costs: the platcreate gets a cut, sometimes there are people who deal with the creators, sometimes there is seed money to originate the amazeion the giving is organic.
We understand that for many engaged in the Big Tribal Game, the sentiment and interest are authentic.
These events are foreseed for months and they are driving high joinment – but Zara understands why some “gifters” would be frantic for an exit.
