A TikTok livestream host waves an iPhone box in front of the camera as around 250 viewers place their bids.
“This could be yours, chat,” the host says. “Wake it up.” The host’s face is hidden from view, with just their hands visible in front of stacks of iPhone, iPad, and MacBook boxes. The TikTok auction starts at $1. As the timer counts down, the price quickly shoots up, with a bid of over $100 scoring the win. After the bidding closes, a digital prize wheel appears and spins through multiple possible products before landing on what the high bidder just won: a teddy bear.
The winner was pissed. “I just paid $147 for a stuffed animal,” they wrote in the stream’s chatlog. “When I was bidding, you said that I could win that iPhone, and it gave me a BB3 Zodiac,” they said, referring to the Labubu-style plushie that retails for about $20. “That’s a scam. Please return my money.”
This person was not alone in their frustration. Multiple viewers of the stream were outraged when they placed high bids hoping to score Apple devices, only to learn their reward was the chance to spin a digital prize wheel that landed on something cheap. “Man, hell no. This is false advertising. Why would I pay $55 for a damn charger?” wrote another angry bidder. “Calling my bank now.” The demand for refunds was a common refrain.
This is all part of TikTok’s feature, called a “Surprise Set,” where auction hosts create buckets of up to 500 products and whoever bids the most walks away with a random pick from the available prizes. These streams often include a few big ticket items, like iPhones and iPads, to lure viewers in. The rest of the items are less desirable, like charging cords and pencil cases. This feature was added late last year to the platform and remains an invitation-only feature for sellers on TikTok.
Many of the streaming set-ups for these TikTok “Surprise Sets” look very similar: a pile of expensive products is shown on screen, with different hosts rallying a couple hundred concurrent viewers to bid higher and higher amounts. If a viewer taps on a small button in the lower left corner of the screen, they can see the live probability of winning each item as well as the full list of what items are still available.
The popularity of “Surprise Sets” on TikTok are emblematic of how gambling-like interactions currently dominate the experience of going online, where prediction markets and sports betting reign. People can even wager on the outcome of reality TV shows.
WIRED reached out to TikTok for comment on Wednesday of last week to share examples of frustrated viewers who felt scammed. One day later on Thursday, TikTok rolled out a change to its livestream policies and what hosts are allowed to do for “Surprise Sets.” (It’s a policy update that TikTok claims was already in the works.) Hosts are no longer allowed to include iPhones, iPads, televisions, diamonds, gift cards, or precious metals as part of the prizes available for viewers to win during surprise auctions. Following this rule change, hosts seem to be following the new guidelines, with no iPhones appearing in livestream “Surprise Sets” seen by WIRED.
“TikTok Shop requires all sellers, including those running Surprise Sets, to accurately present what is being offered. We will take enforcement action on violations of our policies, including removing products and suspending accounts,” TikTok spokesperson Ben Rathe said in a statement to WIRED. If a buyer feels like they were misled, they can reach out to TikTok’s customer support to review the purchase.
It’s worth noting that TikTok’s rules explicitly forbid any kind of gambling on the platform: “Gambling and games of chance are prohibited on TikTok Shop, including raffles, spins, sweepstakes, and any content where users pay for a chance to win.” These policies apply to the live auction “Surprise Sets,” which TikTok does not consider to be a form of gambling.
TikTok’s rules also only allow users over the age of 18 to participate in these surprise auctions, and those under the age of 25 are limited to making eight of these purchases a day. In addition, there’s a 15-minute cooldown period for all users following each twentieth win on these “Surprise Sets.”
Gambling experts are concerned that these live auction “Surprise Sets” could be harmful for younger viewers and prompt even riskier behaviors.
“An early big win can be a precursor toward the pathway of a gambling addiction, whether in that form of gambling or another,” says Michelle Malkin, a director of the Gambling Research & Policy Initiative at East Carolina University. “They've done it before; they can do it again. The brain has that dopamine rush each time.” People under the age of 25, whose brains are still growing, are at a heightened risk of developing gambling issues.
Even though these livestream auctions don’t fall under the category of regulated gambling in the United States, core similarities to other dominant aspects of American gambling culture are unmistakable. Shane Kraus, an expert in gambling-related harms and director of the Behavioral Addictions Lab at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, draws parallels between these types of surprise product auctions and sports betting apps. “This is not the same, but these principles are similar, like the time shortage and the escalation. Making it look exciting, ‘Oh, if you don't get it, someone else will.’” he says.
Malkin sees the immediacy of these interactions as being especially enticing for people under the age of 25. “The less time you have to think between actions. The greater the amount of dopamine rush you're going to be getting over time,” she says. “What we know about gambling is it's about the buildup. It's the near miss. It's the excitement that gets people to want to keep going.”
Even though TikTok expanded its list of banned items for these live auction "Surprise Sets," the stench of gambling culture continues to linger.
