Controversy behind influencers who give money to strangers

By KAITLYN HUAMANI

Every Christmas growing up in Minnesota, Jimmy Darts’ parents gave him $200 in cash: $100 for him and $100 for a stranger. Now, with more than 12 million followers on TikTok and several million more on other platforms, philanthropy is her full-time job.

Darts, whose real last name is Kellogg, is a leading creator of “kindness content,” a subset of social media videos dedicated to helping strangers in need, often with money raised through GoFundMe and other fundraising methods. crowdfunding. A growing number of creators like Kellogg are giving away thousands of dollars, sometimes more, on camera as they encourage their many followers to donate as well.

“The Internet is a pretty crazy, pretty nasty place, but good things still happen,” Kellogg told The Associated Press.

However, not everyone likes these videos, with some viewers finding them performative at best and exploitative at worst.

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Influencer Jimmy Darts poses for a portrait on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in Irvine, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

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Critics argue that filming a stranger, often unknowingly, and sharing a video of them online to gain social media influence is problematic. Beyond influence, content creators can earn money from the views they get on individual videos. When the views reach the millions, as they often do for Kellogg and his peers, they make enough to work full-time as content creators.

Comedian Brad Podray, a content creator formerly known as “Scumbag Dad,” creates parodies designed to highlight the faults he finds with such content, and its defenders, as one of the most vocal critics of “friendly content.”

“Many young people have a very utilitarian mentality. They think of things only in terms of measurable value: “It doesn’t matter what he did, he helped a million people,” Podray said.

Recording practices raise ethical questions

From recording devices and methods to subject selection, “kindness content,” like everything in social media, exists on a spectrum.

Some creators approach strangers and ask them for advice or a favor, and if they bite, they get a prize. Others choose to reward strangers they see doing a good deed. Kellogg performs a “kindness challenge,” asking a stranger for something and returning it in kind.

Many of these strangers do not know they are being filmed. Some creators use hidden cameras and aim to record their subjects discreetly. Kellogg said he wants to be as “secret as possible” but asks for consent to share the video after the interaction. Kellogg said most agree because they look “like a superhero” after their challenge.

Another charity content creator, Josh Liljenquist, said he uses a GoPro camera and tries to make the recording “extremely revealing”, adding: “Consent is the most important thing.”

Regardless of the recording method, some see the process as predatory.

“These guys are always finding someone with cancer or they’re always finding someone who can’t pay their bills because they’re chasing underserved, poor areas and they’re just waiting,” Podray said. “Looking across the parking lot like, ‘It looks pretty pathetic.'”

Karen Hoekstra, the Johnson Center for Philanthropy’s marketing and communications manager, studies TikTok-based influencer philanthropy and says videos sometimes leverage their themes.

“The model of the man on the street walking up and walking up to a stranger and handing him money is that we’ve all heard that phrase, as terrible as it is, it sounds like poverty porn to me,” Hoekstra said. “It’s exploitation.”

Exploitation calls often occur when creators feature the same people in multiple videos, especially when they appear to be homeless or have a drug addiction. Liljenquist features a few people frequently and maintains that his recurring subjects are like his “best friends”.

One user commented in an Oct. 5 video that recent content looks like Liljenquist is “playing caseworker to get views,” as he posted several videos of a woman who followers suspect is struggling with a drug addiction. He records himself bringing her food, giving her a ride in his Tesla, and asking her questions that often elicit one-word answers.

Liljenquist said the criticism doesn’t bother him because he knows his intentions are good.

“I love these people,” he said. “They love me.”

Lack of checks and balances

Some criticize the “friendly content” show, but visibility is crucial to the model that relies heavily on crowdfunding. Kellogg is known to have started GoFundMe fundraisers on behalf of his video subjects, typically bringing in tens of thousands of dollars in viewer donations.

Kellogg, Liljenquist and many other creators also use their personal accounts on payment apps like Venmo, CashApp or PayPal to accept donations.

Tory Martin, also at the Johnson Center as director of communications and strategic partnerships, said transparency about donations “isn’t an option if it’s just going to one individual.”

While these creators aren’t subject to the same standards and regulations as nonprofits, Liljenquist said he believes donor money goes much further in their hands than it does in the hands of traditional organizations, which he said which are “designed to fail”.

“Non-profits, not all of them, there are good ones, but I would just suggest that you do your homework on the non-profits that you’re giving money to because there’s a fair amount of them that “they take advantage of the system,” he said.

Some creators have created non-profit organizations or foundations to support their work, but this is not a widespread practice.

Podray said he’s “100% sure” that some creators are “getting stuck or there’s some kind of bullshit.” It also claims that select creators are handing out fake money to cash in on the trend.

Kellogg said watching fraudulent or exploitative videos is difficult for him, worrying, “Oh my God, all the moms on Facebook fell for this and they think it’s real.”

New wave of philanthropy

While controversy surrounds these videos in some online circles, they are part of a hugely popular social media trend with millions of followers and thousands who are compelled to donate after watching them.

While Hoekstra has concerns about the methods of some creators, he said the introduction to charitable giving of these videos for young people is valuable.

“Anything that can introduce philanthropy to them in a new way and make it accessible and make it exciting, I think that’s a good thing,” he said. “Obviously, there’s going to be a learning curve, but I think it’s really exciting to see philanthropy being so accessible and understandable and accepted in these new spaces and in new ways.”

Some skeptics have become supporters. Kyle Benavidez said he used to see “kindness content” on social media and thought it was fake. But after her mother appeared in one of Kellogg’s recent videos and a GoFundMe Kellogg set up for her raised more than $95,000 to support her family while her husband is in the hospital with cancer, she said the person Kellogg’s online is true to his real-life persona.

“There is a chapel in the hospital and I always go there every morning just to pray. ‘Hopefully something will happen’. And then Jimmy came into our lives,” said Benavidez, 20. “It’s like God sent him.”

Kellogg shows no signs of slowing down his philanthropic work anytime soon, posting videos on his social platforms almost every day. Still, he says doing good on camera only matters if he and his teammates keep it up when the cameras aren’t rolling.

“You can fool people all day and you can make money and do this and that, but God sees your heart,” he said.

Originally Posted: October 22, 2024 at 2:28 p.m

Recording practices raise ethical questions

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