A TikTok star is defending herself from accusations that she started a forest fire to gain attention on social media.
Nosheen Syed, also known as Dolly, received widespread backlash after posting a video of her posing in front of a forest fire in the Margalla Hills — a hill range in Pakistan that is home to nesting migratory birds, according to Newsweek.
The video has since been deleted but according to reports, was in partnership with a fashion brand, Bling. A criminal complaint has now been filed against Syed under wildlife and environment protection laws, but Syed claimed she did not deliberately set the fire. She says she found it when it was already raging, Newsweek noted. She also said the fire was not near the Margalla Hills, but an area close to a motorway.
Taking to Twitter, Rina S Khan Satti, the chair of the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board, expressed outrage at the incident.
"Those who set fire to forests don't realise damage they do to wildlife! It is breeding season for birds in Margallahs right now & their ground nests destroyed by fire, can't even escape," she wrote in a tweet that was accompanied by a video of baby birds rescued from forest fires.
Earlier this year in Abbottabad, a city in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a man was arrested for creating an eye-catching video by using another forest fire — a trend that Satti said was "disturbing and disastrous."
"Young people desperate 4 followers are setting fire to our forests during this hot & dry season! In Australia it is lifetime imprisonment for those who start wildfires. We need to introduce similar legislation," she wrote.
In a statement to the Independent, a spokesperson for TikTok said: "Any content that promotes dangerous or illegal behavior would be a violation of our Community Guidelines and is not allowed on our platform.
"We work to either remove, limit or label content that depicts dangerous or illegal acts.
"We remain vigilant in our commitment to user safety and encourage everyone to exercise caution and responsibility in their behavior whether online or off."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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