TikTok Walks a Tightrope

TikTok’s journey from a nascent video-sharing platform to a global phenomenon has been nothing short of meteoric.

Launched in 2016 by ByteDance through the merger of Musical.ly and Douyin, the app quickly captivated users with its short-form content. By 2019, it had surpassed 1.5 billion downloads worldwide. In Nigeria, its rise coincided with increased smartphone penetration and more affordable data plans, helping it reach an estimated 25 million active users by 2025. This growth has transformed TikTok into a powerhouse for creators, offering unprecedented opportunities for visibility and monetisation.

For millions of creators globally—including more than 500,000 in Nigeria—TikTok represents a democratised space where talent meets opportunity. Its finely tuned algorithm delivers content to highly targeted audiences, enabling rapid follower growth and high engagement. Creators earn through the TikTok Creator Fund, LIVE gifts and brand partnerships, with top Nigerian earners reportedly making between N500,000 and N2 million monthly.

Prominent examples underscore this potential. Popular skit maker Broda Shaggi has built an estimated net worth of between N500 million and N800 million, largely driven by TikTok-fuelled fame. Similarly, 20-year-old Peller, a self-confessed school dropout, reportedly earns upwards of N500,000 monthly, illustrating how the platform can fast-track relevance and cultivate loyal fan bases across borders.

Yet, this accessibility comes with a darker underbelly. TikTok has inadvertently become fertile ground for gullibility, where mediocre content can attract mass followings, reinforcing echo chambers and stifling critical thinking. This trend raises uncomfortable questions about educational systems in many countries, Nigeria included, which often prioritise rote learning over analytical skills, leaving users vulnerable to viral trends rather than substantive discourse. In this social media ecosystem, creators post freely, but reactions—often from anonymous detractors—can quickly descend into hostility.

These challenges came into sharp focus in Nigeria on Sunday, December 7, 2025, when TikTok announced the temporary suspension of LIVE streaming between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. The notification stated: “LIVE access is temporarily unavailable in your region during these hours as we review safety measures.”

The move, which was not mandated by any Nigerian regulator, underscores TikTok’s delicate balancing act between empowerment and accountability. Rather than singling Nigeria out, the restriction reflects broader global enforcement trends, although the country’s high violation rates have attracted particular scrutiny.

Initial rumours linked the restriction to national insecurity, with claims that terrorists were exploiting LIVE streams for communication and coordination. Indeed, jihadist groups such as ISWAP and Boko Haram have reportedly used TikTok for propaganda, sharing recruitment videos and operational updates. Criminal gangs, commonly referred to as bandits, have also leveraged the platform, with instances of kidnappers engaging the public during LIVE sessions.

One stark example was the November 18, 2025 attack on the Christ Apostolic Church in Eruku, Kwara State, where a livestream reportedly captured moments shortly before gunmen struck, killing worshippers and abducting others. While such footage can aid investigations through timestamps and location data, it also exposes serious vulnerabilities in real-time broadcasting.

This duality mirrors the role of livestreams during the October 20, 2020 EndSARS protests at the Lekki Toll Gate, where timestamped videos provided compelling evidence that contradicted official denials of violence. Nevertheless, the primary driver of the recent restriction appears to be a surge in explicit content during late-night LIVE sessions.

Increasingly, some creators pressure viewers to send virtual gifts—worth up to N10,000 each—in exchange for lewd acts, nudity or sexually explicit behaviour, exploiting impressionable audiences. TikTok’s enforcement data paints a troubling picture. At the November 2025 West Africa Safety Summit, the company revealed that between April and June 2025, it banned 49,512 LIVE sessions in Nigeria and removed 3.78 million videos for guideline violations.

This followed first-quarter actions in 2025, when 42,196 LIVE rooms were banned and 48,156 streams interrupted. Nigeria now leads globally in LIVE violation enforcement, accounting for a significant share of TikTok’s 2.3 million global warnings and more than one million creator penalties in the second quarter of the year.

These figures—representing roughly 15 percent of Nigeria’s total uploads during the period—underscore the scale of the problem. Violations ranged from hate speech and misinformation to explicit material. Amid this, a worrying trend has emerged: many aspiring creators, including school dropouts, are drawn by the promise of quick wealth that rivals or exceeds graduate salaries. While success stories like Peller’s inspire thousands, they also risk devaluing formal education.

With youth unemployment at an estimated 42 percent in 2025, TikTok offers an alluring alternative source of income. However, without sustainable incentives for education—such as scholarships, vocational training and skill-based curricula—the long-term consequences could be damaging.

TikTok remains one of the most generous digital platforms, distributing over $10 billion globally to creators in 2024, with Nigerian users earning millions through its monetisation tools. Yet unchecked excesses threaten to erode these gains. As the platform continues to walk a tightrope between innovation and safety, stakeholders must push for stronger digital literacy and smarter regulatory frameworks—ensuring TikTok remains a creative powerhouse without becoming a breeding ground for mediocrity or harm.