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TikTok becomes a tool of choice in cat-and-mouse game between migrant smugglers and authorities
@Source: financialpost.com
One smuggler, who asked to only be identified by his TikTok name “The Corporation” due to fear of authorities tracking him down said other accounts would steal his migrant smuggling network’s videos of customers saying to camera they arrived safely in the U.S.
“And there’s not much we can do legally. I mean, it’s not like we can report them,” he said with a laugh.
In other cases, migrants say that they were forced by traffickers to take the videos even if they haven’t arrived safely to their destinations.
The illicit advertisements have fueled concern among international authorities like the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration, which warned in a report about the use of the technology that “networks are becoming increasingly sophisticated and evasive, thus challenging government authorities to address new, non-traditional forms of this crime.”
In February, a Mexican prosecutor also confirmed to the AP that they were investigating a network of accounts advertising crossings through a tunnel running under the border fence between Ciudad Juarez and El Paso. But investigators would not provide more details.
In the meantime, hundreds of accounts post videos of trucks crossing border, of stacks of cash and migrants, faces covered with emojis, promising they made it safely across the border.
“We’re continuing to cross and we’re not scared,” one wrote.
Illustrations are based on hundreds of videos posted on TikTok examined by the AP that advertise travel to the U.S. to migrants. Videos are often laced with emojis, make bold promises of success and promise safe travel.
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