The women of a village in Lombok may see their TikTok revenue dry up after the Indonesian government requested the platform to take down viral clips of them bathing in muddy water.
In a written statement made public over the weekend, TikTok’s representative in Indonesia said that the video-sharing platform honored a request from the Ministry of Information and Communications to take down the clips, which were recordings of live streams of the women engaging in the stunt.
“We have received the takedown request from the ministry and followed it up accordingly,” the statement said.
Indeed, the original videos that were uploaded by user @intan_komalasari92 have vanished since Friday. That said, reposts of the videos by other users are still available on TikTok.
As previously reported, the brains behind the stunt, a young man named Sultan Akhyar, received backlash for live-streaming the middle-aged and elderly women bathing in mud water – fully clothed and often with headscarves on – in exchange for digital tips from viewers.
Though he said he split the money evenly with the talent, Sultan was nonetheless accused of exploiting the women after he boasted that he was able to buy new possessions, including a motorbike, with the money he made off of it.
One of the women, however, said that she did not mind starring in the videos as she earned a lot more from them compared to working in the paddy fields.
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