Homeless entertainment: Perth TikTokker Western claims social media ‘saved’ his life after being homeless
A Perth content creator who spent most of his teenage years on the streets says social media “saved” his life but claims the under-16 ban now threatens his livelihood.
Western, known to followers as Homeless Entertainment, was earning between $100 and $400 a week through TikTok before the ban came into effect on December 10 last year. But he says his income has dropped significantly since the changes were implemented.
The 18-year-old told PerthNow that the majority of his income comes not from streaming videos, but from livestreams, which are now much less engaged because the vast majority of his viewers are young people who can no longer access the platform.
“Right before the ban, (my live streams) were getting between 100,000 and 800,000 views, right after the ban happened I dropped to 500 views (on my live stream), I didn’t get paid, now I’m having a hard time buying food and things like that,” he said.
“I would say 50 percent to 60 percent of my audience is under 16, a large portion of my audience is adults, but it’s mostly those under 16 who are engaging with the videos, which is why it hit so hard,” he said.
Western’s stance on the social media ban is not that it shouldn’t happen, but rather that the pressure should be on social media platforms, not users.
“I think instead of trying to force these young people to get off social media to protect themselves, we should have gone to social media (platforms) themselves and told them to ban addictive features, promote moderation, and make sure these kids don’t see adult content in their feeds,” he said.
For Western, social media provided a source of purpose and he created an online community after becoming homeless at age 13. He lived on the streets until he was 17 and was able to purchase a trailer where he currently lives.
“I can definitely say that social media has saved my life countless times,” he said.
Social media served a supportive purpose long before Western became a content creator.
“I used to use social media when I was younger, too, because if I’m real, I wasn’t the most popular kid, I was getting bullied. I turned to social media to find support groups and get help with that, and that really helped me throughout my youth as well,” she said.
“I think young people should have the option of finding support groups like this.”
When it comes to Western’s goals for the future, he wants to be one of the “biggest” content creators and also stay connected to the community he’s built.
“I want to be the people’s broadcaster, you see a lot of content creators who think they are God. I want to be the person that people can look at and emulate, he is just one of us,” he said.
