Florida teen who rose to fame for posting ‘hypersexual’ videos sparks censorship and protection dispute at HQ

A Florida teen rose to fame on TikTok with her ‘sexualised’ dance videos aged just 15 – but her mum says she’s proud of her daughter’s achievements.

Roselie Arritola, who goes by the name of Jenny Popach on TikTok, is one of several children whose risky content has sparked internal arguments at the social media giant over whether to censor it, according to Bloomberg.

An ex-CEO of the social media firm, Alex Zhu, said he finds it “creepy” that users are being fed clips of young girls under 18 dancing provocatively and is appalled at their proliferation, it has been claimed.

Arritola, now 16, has 7 million followers and regularly shocks her fans with footage of her twerking in bikinis and body-rolling in hot pants — as well as lip-synching to suggestive rap songs. She lives with her parents and siblings in an RV near Orlando.

Her mother, Maria Ulacia, laughed at the idea that she “liked” her daughter, with the family being kicked out of the Ritz-Carlton in Orlando after her supporters called to say she was “sexually trafficked” by her mother.

Ulacia, a mother of six, sipped purple gin from a Styrofoam cup during an early afternoon interview with Bloomberg about her daughter’s fame and said, “We loved it — we loved the attention.”

Roselie Arritola, known from Jenny Popach on TikTok, has sparked a row over whether the social media giant should censor her videos

She added: “I knew that one day I would be famous. I believe in destiny, and I believe in manifestation, and I believe Roselie is.”

Her father, Jorge, said he is “proud” of his daughter and likes to appear in the videos occasionally to remind people that “there is a father”.

TikTok has a trust and security team that reportedly “doesn’t know what to do with the teen” posting risqué content.

Her account was deactivated in January for violating community guidelines, which appeared to specifically relate to the ban on minors implying participation in sexual activity.

This includes a minor wearing minimal clothing, lip-synching to sexually explicit song lyrics, or performing dance moves such as twerking, breast shaking, or pelvic thrusting.

The sexualized dancing is almost exclusively what Arritola does, with her account being reactivated after just two weeks.

The now 16-year-old has 7 million followers and regularly shocks her fans with footage of her twerking in bikinis and body-rolling in hot pants – as well as lip-synching to suggestive rap songs

Her mother, Maria Ulacia, laughed at the idea of ​​her “pinning down” her daughter and the family being kicked out of the Ritz-Carlton in Orlando after her followers called to say she had been “sexually trafficked” by her mother.

In May her account was closed and reactivated, in September her videos were removed and she was banned from posting for a few weeks.

When the account was closed a second time, the family calculated it had cost them $8,000 in branded business.

Ulacia took her daughter to Los Angeles, where they stood in front of TikTok headquarters and asked a security guard for help recovering the account.

Her mother added: “Every TikToker has its own niche. My daughter has one and if she leans away from it she won’t get as many views.

“Yours dances, but that gets a bit boring after a while. And you can’t be boring, you know what I mean?

“We post videos that have a shock effect to grab viewers and attention and give the audience something to talk about.”

Her account was deactivated in January for violating community guidelines, which appeared to specifically relate to the ban on minors implying participation in sexual activity

Ex-CEO of social media Alex Zhu (pictured) said he finds it “creepy” that men are being fed such content by young girls under 18 dancing provocatively

She also claims that the parents who complain about her upbringing are just jealous, adding, “They know their husbands make them perverts.”

The mother claims she puts a portion of Arritola’s TikTok earnings in an escrow account that she can access when she’s 18 and that she’s supporting her career aspirations

About 70 percent of US teens ages 13 to 17 use TikTok, according to a recent Pew Research Center poll, and 1 in 6 say they use it “almost constantly.”

The Indiana Attorney General sued the company last week, claiming it is a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” that is exposing children to harmful content.

TikTok says it removed more than 200 million videos in the first half of the year, 40 percent of them for violating child safeguarding rules.

In May her account was closed and reactivated, in September her videos were removed and she was banned from posting for a few weeks. When the account was closed a second time, the family calculated it had cost them $8,000 in branded business

Julie de Bailliencourt, Global Head of Product Policy at TikTok, said: “The challenge is that our work never ends. There is no finish line.’

In February, the company announced that it would be imposing new restrictions on “overtly sexually suggestive” content and that people under the age of 15 would not be able to appear on the For You page.

A former employee told Bloomberg that he wanted TikTok to hire a child psychologist and tweak the algorithm to make it safer for young users and stop if they refuse.

Alex Zhu, chief executive officer of TikTok in 2020 and former co-CEO of Musical.ly, also reportedly told staff that he was “embarrassed” by how many young girls dance in a sexualized way – calling it “creepy.” ‘ how grown men were feeding these clips.

Arritola claims that she’s just a “normal girl who only goes through life on social media”, shooting videos in fancy locations and taking a few hours of online school

Ulacia took her daughter to Los Angeles, where they stood in front of TikTok headquarters and asked a security guard for help recovering the account

Arritola claims that she’s just a “normal girl who only goes through life on social media”, shooting videos in fancy locations and taking a few hours of online school.

Defending her content, she said: “I’m not on a pole, like strip dancing, why not do something that’s so normal for teenagers because the weirdo in the corner is watching me with provocative thoughts? why should i go

‘That won’t get rid of the perverted men. If you don’t have haters, you won’t show up.

The teenager also denies she’s in any danger and laughed at the idea that she had to be rescued or that her parents were forcing her to perform.

TikTok says it reports any material it comes across that qualifies as child sexual abuse and any supporting evidence found on its app to law enforcement and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

DailyMail.com reached out to TikTok for comment.