TikTok's new ‘begging’ trend is infuriating users

Times are tough, we know, with bills rising, workers striking and families struggling to make ends meet.

Pretty much all of us could do with an extra bob or two, but most of us wouldn’t beseech strangers to give it to us.

And yet, plenty of content creators are more than happy to ask their followers for money. And no, we don’t just mean the adult performers on OnlyFans.

A new trend doing the rounds on TikTok sees users “begging” their viewers for cash to help fund a variety of different needs and wants: from paying off credit card debt to covering medical bills to buying a Starbucks coffee.

These hopefuls tend to ask for a dollar from each viewer which, admittedly, on its own isn’t much. But, if you manage to attract seizable audiences, it can add up to a tidy sum.

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However, as you’d expect, their pleas don’t sit well with countless TikTokers who have their own financial struggles to contend with.

The question of whether or not users should be allowed to request personal donations was addressed by influencer Noah Glenn Carter in a video he posted on Monday.

In the clip, he explained the trend before pointing out: “Many people have gotten tired of this trend saying that most people asking for money are probably spending it on just whatever they want and not what they say they are going to spend it on.

“And other people are saying that it just makes you look really bad to ‘beg like this on TikTok’.”

He then asked his 6.7 million followers to comment with their thoughts on the issue – and hundreds duly piled in.

“These people infuriate me, thank you for shining light on this,” wrote one critic..

“Most of the people begging are richer than me and my parents,” said another.

“I could understand this ‘trend’ if people were actually struggling and needed money,” commented a third. “But this has gone too far.”

And a fourth said: “In the past, people used to work for their money, even if it’s making multiple high-quality videos but now they just ask for money…”

However, other users were more open to the trend, with a number asking why it was causing such offence.

“I don’t see the big deal. If you don’t like it just pass the video? I mean it’s $1, some people need help,” wrote one.

Meanwhile, another user called for a more rigorous approach to the whole process, writing: “What they should do, instead, is create a GoFundMe and explain what they will use the money for and prove it after they have got the money.”

And another said simply: “Might as well hold a cardboard sign outside. I see no difference.”

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