Live broadcast craze and 'gift economy' on TikTok: They create a virtual pavilion and dance halay!

The "gift economy", which has become popular recently on various live broadcast platforms, especially TikTok, has brought about new discussions. While the virtual gifts sent from the audience through different concepts such as slime kneading, halay, sira night, virtual pavilion, prayer and dhikr rings turned into a source of high income, the real size of these earnings was also a matter of curiosity.

CLAIM OF 3 MILLION LIRA IN ONE NIGHT!

In recent weeks, the broadcast of a couple kneading slime was watched by approximately 65 thousand 800 people simultaneously, and it was claimed that the broadcast earned 3 million lira in one night. However, the couple who made the broadcast denied this claim and announced that they collected a total of 140 thousand tokens, which corresponded to an income of approximately 26 thousand to 28 thousand liras.

SIMULTANEOUS OPERATIONS IN 8 PROVINCES

As virtual gifts turned into a serious money traffic and spread to different platforms, judicial authorities also took action.

In simultaneous operations carried out yesterday in 8 provinces, including Ankara, 11 of the 14 suspects for whom detention warrants were issued were captured.

The operation was carried out by Ankara Provincial Gendarmerie Command KOM Branch Directorate and Intelligence Branch Directorate teams. 11 people were detained in simultaneous raids in Ankara, Antalya, Bursa, Manisa, Istanbul, Kahramanmaraş, Gaziantep and Hakkari.

Work continues to capture 3 of the 14 suspects for whom detention warrants are issued. The suspects are being prosecuted on charges of laundering proceeds of crime under Law No. 7258, which regulates the crime of illegal betting.

HOW DID THE METHOD WORK?

According to the statement of the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, the method was as follows: The suspects sent high-value virtual gifts to the live broadcasting influencers under the name of donations. The influencers converted these gifts into cash and transferred the remaining amount back to the suspects by cash or bank transfer, after deducting the commission received by TikTok.

In the investigation, it is also evaluated that some suspects tried to put some of the money they earned into the financial system by buying jewelry from jewelers, and the aim was to take the money abroad.

In the 6-year account review conducted by the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK), a huge money movement was detected among the suspects, totaling 1 billion 928 million 362 thousand 722 liras and 98 kuruş.