TikTok Teen’s Make Up Tutorials Exposing China’s Muslim Detention Centres Go Viral

Feroza Aziz/Twitter

A teenager’s TikTok videos exposing Muslim detention centres in China have gone viral after she claimed the platform was censoring her content.

Feroza Aziz, 17, created a three-part series of videos beginning in the style of a makeup tutorial, with the teen instructing viewers how to use an eyelash curler.

The tone of the video soon changed, however, when she began shedding light on the conditions at least a million Muslims are being subjected to in internment camps in Xinjiang.

Watch the first video here:

Aziz, who has said she is an Afghan American from New Jersey, told her followers:

Then you’re going to put [the eyelash curler] down and use your phone … to search up what’s happening in China, how they’re getting concentration camps, throwing innocent Muslims in there, separating families from each other, kidnapping them, murdering them, raping them, forcing them to eat pork, forcing them to drink, forcing them to convert.

This is another Holocaust, yet no one is talking about it. Please be aware, please spread awareness in Xinjiang right now.

After sharing the eye-opening information, the TikTok user went back to the eyelash curling lesson.

Check out part two of the video here:

The teen said she was attempting to conceal the fact she was raising awareness by slotting it into the middle of her make-up tutorial so her posts wouldn’t be deleted, as she claims she has been censored by TikTok in the past.

Her profile description reads:

Just a Muslim who wants clout. Got deleted last time.

After sharing the videos, Aziz posted a tweet saying TikTok had suspended her account and blocked her from posting new content, though the platform has disputed this.

A spokesperson told BBC News the site ‘does not moderate content due to political sensitivities’, though they admitted one of Aziz’s old accounts had been banned for posting an unrelated video that had broken its rules on terrorism-related material.

The spokesperson added:

Her new account and its videos, including the eyelash video in question, were not affected and continue to receive views.

See part three of Aziz’s video series here:

However, Aziz is still unable to post new content and she wrote on Twitter she has not had an explanation from TikTok.

She wrote:

I have reached out to tik tok yesterday morning and still haven’t gotten a response. I am still waiting for them to explain to me why my account was suspended, the day after I finished posting my three part video on the Uyghurs

A later update said TikTok had removed Aziz’s three-part video altogether:

TikTok has taken down my video spreading awareness on the Uyghur genocide. This is proof that China is using Tik Tok to not let the truth be set free. China is scared.

Despite being removed from the platform, Aziz’s videos have been widely shared and the teenager has said she is ‘astonished’ they’ve been seen by so many people.

She commented:

I’m so happy that I got to help spread awareness on an issue that needs to be brought to light.

The Chinese government has consistently said the camps in question offer voluntary education and training, though leaks of classified documents revealed by The Guardian undermine the claims. The documents connect Chinese leader Xi Jinping to the crackdown and detail guidelines in how to ‘prevent escape’ of detainees.

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Emily Brown

Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.