Every Christmas growing up in Minnesota, Jimmy Darts’ parents gave him US$200 in cash: US$100 for himself and US$100 for a stranger. Now, with more than 12 million followers on TikTok and several million more on other platforms, philanthropy is his full-time job.
Darts, whose real surname is Kellogg, is one of the biggest creators of “kindness content,” a subset of social media videos devoted to helping strangers in need, often with cash amassed through GoFundMe and other crowdfunding methods. A growing number of creators like Kellogg give away thousands of dollars — sometimes even more — on camera as they also encourage their large followings to donate.
“The Internet is a pretty crazy, pretty nasty place, but there’s still good things happening on there,” Kellogg said.
Photo: AP
Not everyone likes these videos, though, with some viewers deeming them, at their best, performative, and at their worst, exploitative.
Critics argue that recording a stranger, often unknowingly, and sharing a video of them online to gain social media clout is problematic. Beyond clout, content creators can make money off the views they get on individual videos. When 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 online as “Scumbag Dad,” creates parodies designed to highlight the faults he finds with this content — and its proponents — as one of the most vocal critics of “kindness content.”
Photo: AP
“A lot of young people have a very utilitarian mindset. They think of things only in measurable value: ‘It doesn’t matter what he did, he helped a million people,’” Podray said.
From the recording devices and methods down to the selection of subjects, “kindness content” — like everything on social media — exists on a spectrum.
Some creators approach strangers and ask them for advice or for a favor, and if they bite, they receive 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 are unaware they are being filmed. Some creators employ hidden cameras and aim to record subjects in a discreet manner.
Kellogg said he wants to be as “secret about it as possible,” but asks for consent to share the video after the interaction.
Kellogg said most agree because they look “like a superhero” after his challenge.
Another charitable content creator, Josh Liljenquist, said he uses a GoPro camera and tries to make recording “extremely noticeable,” adding that “consent’s the biggest thing.”
Regardless of the recording method, some see the process as predatory.
“These guys always find someone with cancer or always find someone who can’t pay their bills because they’re stalking through underserved and poor areas and they’re just sort of waiting,” Podray said. “Looking through the parking lot like, ‘He looks pathetic enough.’”
Karen Hoekstra, the marketing and communications manager for the Johnson Center for Philanthropy, studies TikTok-based influencer philanthropy and says the videos, at times, take advantage of their subjects.
“The model of the man on the street walking up and approaching a stranger and handing them money is — we’ve all heard this phrase, terrible as it is — it just strikes me as poverty porn,” Hoekstra said. “It’s exploitation.”
Calls of exploitation often come when creators feature the same people across multiple videos, especially when they appear to be homeless or have a drug addiction. Liljenquist features some people frequently and maintains that his recurring subjects are like his “best friends.”
One user commented on an Oct. 5 video that recent content feels like Liljenquist is “playing case worker for views,” as he posted several videos of a woman who followers suspect is struggling with a drug addiction.
He recorded himself bringing her food, giving her a ride in his Tesla and asking her questions that often get one-word responses.
Liljenquist said criticism does not bother him because he knows his intentions are good.
“I love these people,” he said. “They love me.”
Some criticize the showmanship of “kindness content,” but visibility is crucial to the model that relies heavily on crowdfunding. Kellogg is known to start GoFundMe fundraisers on behalf of his video subjects, usually bringing in tens of thousands of dollars in viewer donations.
Kellogg, Liljenquist and scores of other creators also use their personal accounts on payment apps like Venmo, CashApp or PayPal to accept donations.
Johnson Center director of communications and strategic partnerships Tory Martin said transparency about donations is “not an option if it’s just going to an individual.”
Although these creators are not held to standards and regulations like nonprofits, Liljenquist said he feels donor dollars go much further in his hands than in the hands of traditional organizations, which he said are “designed for failure.”
“Nonprofits — not all of them, there are some good ones — but I would just suggest you do your homework on the nonprofits that you are giving money to, because there’s a good amount of them who take advantage of the system,” he said.
Some creators have set up nonprofit organizations or foundations to support their work, but that is not a widespread practice.
Podray said he is “100 percent sure” some creators “take a rake or that there’s some sort of nonsense going on.”
He also maintains that select creators hand out fake money to cash in on the trend.
Kellogg said seeing fraudulent or exploitative videos is tough for him, worrying, “My gosh, every Facebook mom just fell for this and thinks it’s real.”
While controversy swirls around these videos in some online circles, they are part of a hugely popular social media trend with millions of supporters and thousands who are compelled to donate after watching.
Although Hoekstra has concerns about some creators’ methods, she said the introduction to charitable giving these videos make for young people is valuable.
“Anything that can present philanthropy to them in a new way and make it accessible and make it exciting I think is a good thing,” she said. “Obviously, there’s going to be a learning curve, but I think it’s really exciting to see philanthropy be so accessible and understandable and embraced 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 think it was fake.
However, after his mother was featured in one of Kellogg’s recent videos and a GoFundMe Kellogg created for her raised more than US$95,000 to support their family while her husband is in the hospital with cancer, Benavidez said Kellogg’s online persona is true to his real-life character.
“There’s a chapel in the hospital and I always go there every morning just to pray. ‘Hopefully something happens.’ And then Jimmy came to our lives,” Benavidez, 20, said. “It’s like God sent him.”
Kellogg shows no signs of slowing down his philanthropic work any time soon and rolls out videos across his social platforms almost every day.
Still, he said doing good deeds on camera only matters if he and his peers keep it up when the cameras are not rolling.
“You can fool people all day and you can make money and do this and that, but God sees your heart,” he said.
The domestic unit of the Chinese-owned, Dutch-headquartered chipmaker Nexperia BV will soon be able to produce semiconductors locally within China, according to two company sources. Nexperia is at the center of a global tug-of-war over critical semiconductor technology, with a Dutch court in February ordering a probe into alleged mismanagement at the company. The geopolitical tussle has disrupted supply chains, with some carmakers reportedly forced to cut production due to chip shortages. Local production would allow Nexperia’s domestic arm, Nexperia Semiconductors (China) Ltd (安世半導體中國), to bypass restrictions in place since October on the supply of silicon wafers — etched with tiny components to
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
Taiwan is open to joining a global liquefied natural gas (LNG) program if one is created, but on the condition that countries provide delivery even in a scenario where there is a conflict with China, an energy department official said yesterday. While Taiwan’s priority is to have enough LNG at home, the nation is open to exploring potential strategic reserves in other countries such as Japan or South Korea, Energy Administration Deputy Director-General Chen Chung-hsien (陳崇憲) said. While the LNG market does not have a global reserve for emergencies like that of oil, the concept has been raised a few times —
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday received government approval to deploy its advanced 3-nanometer (3nm) process at its second fab currently under construction in Japan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a news release. The ministry green-lit the plan for the facility in Kumamoto, which is scheduled to start installing equipment and come online in 2028 with a monthly production capacity of 15,000 12-inch wafers, the ministry said. The Department of Investment Review in June 2024 authorized a US$5.26 billion investment for the facility, slated to manufacture 6- to 12nm chips, significantly less advanced than 3nm process. At a meeting with
RSS