EXCLUSIVE: TikTok shop has been platforming businesses selling gross T-shirts advertised as ‘cursed Liam Payne’ clothing. The distasteful clothing had been pushed on the ‘explore page’
Sick ‘cursed’ Liam Payne t-shirts have been flogged on TikTok for just £10 after the tragic popstar’s death last year.
The former One Direction band member sadly died on October 16, 2024, when he fell from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was found that Liam had drugs and alcohol in his system at the time he plummeted from his third-floor room, a toxicology report found.
This week, it was revealed that those charged in connection with Liam’s death are fighting claims in court four months on, including friend Rogelio Nores.
His ex Maya Henry also spoke out for the first time since his death, allegedly exposing the tragic star’s ‘dark side’.
And now in a new blow to Liam’s memory, the Daily Star discovered gross T-shirts being circulated on the TikTok shop and available for purchase for as little as £9.
Advertised as ‘Liam Payne Cursed One Direction T-Shirt’ by seller ‘River Island Fashion’, which is not affiliated to the same high street brand River Island, the top features a smiling photo of Liam along with words ‘Diarrhoea is just an illusion’.
It appears this in reference to a strange meme with the same tagline that circulated on Twitter, now X, back in 2022.
The crude and ‘brain rot’ style T-shirt was viewed by 455 TikTok users within 30 days after being pushed on their ‘explore page’.
The ‘cursed’ T-shirt was available for between £13.55 and £27.05, dependent on size and colour, on TikTok Shop and had been suggested by TikTok on its ‘explore page’ – where the algorithm pushes items and content to its users to increase visibility.
While ‘River Island Fashion’ is linked to a TikTok page with the same name, the user has included a link to US-based website ‘Tee World X’, who do not sell any Liam Payne clothing on their website.
Another seller under the shop name ‘Vision Of Fashion’ flogged the same T-Shirt, advertising it as ‘Liam Payne One Direction T-Shirt’, with the price starting at £9.89.
However, this seller’s connected TikTok account leads to a ‘bot’ account with a ‘bot handle’, consisting of the word ‘user’ and a long list of numbers.
Despite similar T-shirts being sold on Etsy with the words ‘diarrhoea is just an illusion, Liam Payne R.I.P’ printed across and a similar style being linked to on Pinterest, these do not appear to be pushed at users in the same way as has happened on the TikTok ‘explore page’ – which has the sole responsibility of making items more visible to users.
TikTok said that these products have now been removed for violating their policies around discriminatory products. They use a combination of technology and human moderators to enforce policies on the platform, where they strive to protect customers’ shopping experiences.
The policies include what can and can’t be sold, seller registration and verification requirements, and features like product reviews, reporting tools, and easy returns.
As of the end of 2023, there were more than 15million TikTok sellers and the company states that users must verify their business with a number of requirements in order to operate.
However, there is a growing trend of AI services being plugged elsewhere on the internet to help people to create and sell on the TikTok Shop.
This essentially creates ‘ghost’ accounts, making it hard to track down who is behind these sick T-shirts – despite verification being essential.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
