Some social media stars are willing to take extreme measures to increase reach. The Tiktokerin Dolly has now been arrested for such.
The video went viral like wildfire – so far the Tiktokerin Dolly’s plan worked. But instead of being celebrated by her 11.5 million followers, there was suddenly trouble with environmentalists and the police: the Pakistani influencer had played with fire – and triggered a wildfire for a clip.
There was no message or deeper thoughts behind the action. “Wherever I go, the flames rise,” the description of the now-deleted clip said. In a flowing dress, the influencer, whose real name is Humaira Asghar, walks down a hill while the embankment is on fire behind her. Shortly thereafter, however, the handcuffs clicked.
Wildfire as a Tiktok spectacle
Because the hill is part of the Margalla Forest, a national park at the foot of the Himalayas. The police have therefore opened a case against the influencer, a spokesman for the local police authority confirmed. She is accused of setting the fire and violating a wildfire protection law and environmental protection laws, reports local news service The News. The fire is particularly dramatic because, on the one hand, it is the breeding season for many of the birds that are only native to the Margalla Forest. On the other hand, to make matters worse, the Indian subcontinent is groaning under a massive heat wave this year, which is currently exposing the fauna to a particularly high risk of small fires spreading in the dry season.
Meanwhile, Dolly is unreasonable. “It doesn’t hurt anyone to make videos,” she explained in a follow-up clip. She denied responsibility for the fire. The fire was already burning when she and her team got there, she claims. Tiktok saw it differently. In a statement, the company called the clip highly problematic, advertising “dangerous” and “illegal” actions, according to the platform.
dangerous trend
However, Dolly isn’t the only social media personality who’s wanted to make her wildfire clips more spectacular. According to “The News”, there have been several cases in the past few days in which Tiktokers staged themselves in front of burning nature. A young couple even filmed themselves setting the fire. Another Tiktoker had been arrested by game wardens in Abbottabad for arson.
Conservationists are appalled. “This is a disturbing and disastrous trend on Tiktok,” environmental activist Rina Khan Satti wrote on Twitter. In the hunt for followers, they would set fire to it in the most dangerous season of all times. “In Australia there is a life sentence for that! We urgently need to introduce similar laws,” she demands.
Such actions are unlikely to increase in the future. This type of content is prohibited at Tiktok, the service made clear in the statement. “We are working hard to remove, restrict and flag such content as dangerous.”
Sources: The News, Twitter, Tiktok, Insider
