Insider Explains Why Exploitative Videos Exposed by BBC Will Continue to Flourish Unless Chinese Government Bans Them

Alexandria Williams is a U.S. journalist based in Nairobi, Kenya.

Just as the algorithms on U.S. digital media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter are all optimized to display the most outrageous, inflammatory content in pursuit of higher engagement, the same is true in China.

The so-called “blessing videos” featured in the recent BBC Africa documentary that show how Chinese online merchants exploit Africans and others by getting them to perform demeaning acts on camera may be offensive, but they generate a lot of views, likes, and shares.

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by Eric Olander

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