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Somali TikTok battles: 'Why I spent my university fees on the Big Tribal Game'

BBC
Summary
Nutrition label

71% Informative

Zara , not her real name, is in her 20s , lives in the US and has Somali roots.

She became obsessed with TikTok 's live battle feature, which sees two influencers verbally spar and sometimes mock each other.

She spent more than $7,000 , meant to pay for her university fees, on the games.

Zara says she started playing because she wanted to defend the pride of her clan.

But as she was pulled deeper into this world, she experienced something more sinister.

The Big Tribal Game is proving popular within Somalia - discussed at many tea stalls in capital , Mogadishu , and in higher echelons of society.

There are serious concerns about the level of clannism and hateful speech across social media platforms spread by influential Somali accounts.

The games feed on confrontation and sometimes at the very least the appearance of aggression.

VR Score

60

Informative language

51

Neutral language

53

Article tone

informal

Language

English

Language complexity

46

Offensive language

possibly offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

not detected

Time-value

short-lived

Affiliate links

no affiliate links