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Remember Those Exploitative African “Blessing Videos” on Chinese Social Media? They’re Back. This Time in the West.

by Eric Olander
One of the numerous "blessing video" services that are now advertising widely in the U.S. and Euroe on Instagram and TikTok.

It was once very easy for Chinese social media users to spend between $15 and $40 to get a bare-chested man, a scantily clad woman or even a child to do demeaning performances in short videos that were often highly exploitative.

In China, for the most part, those so-called “blessing videos” were banned from advertising on online shopping sites and social media platforms following last year’s exposé of the practice by the BBC.

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