TikTok revealed updates to its group standards in a blog post on December 15th. A prohibition on multi-level marketing is one of them (MLM). As a result, the Chinese app becomes the first social network to prohibit this contentious activity.

MLM is a distribution network structure in which resellers can support new resellers or receive a portion of the selling of a brand’s goods that are usually unknown to the general public. It has become very popular with the advent of the best social networking marketing plan. This activity is very common on Facebook through groups or private messages, but TikTok has also become an Multilevel marketing platform in recent months, particularly with its “About You” page that makes it easy to find new people to recruit.

When you are referring to this future of social media, you should now be bold to point at TikTok.

This practice has practically skyrocketed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, as many people have found themselves out of work and in need of money. “Unfortunately, only 1% of the people employed in this business make money,” says the author. The rest are in red. It’s not a lack of ability or ambition; it’s the model’s desire,” says Robert Fitzpatrick, president of Pyramid Scheme Alert, which has conducted many studies on the subject.

MLM-related posts are so frequent on social media that a Reddit community dedicated to combating the practice has 674,000 members. According to Kaitlyn Tiffany, a reporter for The Atlantic, a group of YouTubers has joined in an attempt to reveal the reality behind the procedure, while videos featuring the hashtag #antimlm have been viewed more than 34 million times on TikTok.

After dealing with spam issues, risks and benefits on its homepage, TikTok appears to have decided to take the bold step of outlawing the activity. “Do not publish, upload, stream, or distribute material that depicts or encourages Ponzi schemes, multi-level sale, or pyramid schemes,” the social network’s community guidelines now state.

I am still waiting to see if this will become fun and career driven social media marketing means. Many that use this tactic to get around the rules will most likely switch to other hashtags, but this prohibition is a step forward in the battle against fraudulent practices.

Understanding this TikTok new practice or update is cool but it might take a way for others to learn how it works.
Nevertheless, I lot about this will be published on other sources before this year ends. I believe they will have a better explanation of this.

In case you have any contribution or you know what this means just let me know.