Ireland's top TikTok users are joining the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre in a campaign to end sexual harassment

Ireland’s top TikTok users are joining the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre in a campaign to end sexual harassment among the country’s youth.

Twenty of Ireland’s leading online influencers who use TikTok — a social media platform known for its lip synced homemade music videos popular with those in their teens and early 20s — are using their platforms to raise awareness around sexual consent.

The campaign called #100Consent — a play on the phrase "100%" — aims to send a clear message that being even 1% unsure when it comes to sexual consent could have devastating consequences.

Fionnuala Jones, a writer, podcaster and content creator from Cobh, County Cork, who has more than 58k followers across her social media accounts is taking part in the campaign.

She said: “Consent is an ongoing conversation that people need to have. I think there’s a consensus that the conversation about consent is a one time thing with your child or a friend."

"Whereas I would say that consent needs to be an ongoing conversation.

And this campaign #100Consent is taking a look at the fact that consent is a very nuanced issue and it’s trying to highlight that it has to be 100% on both sides because if even one of you is even 1% unsure that’s when things can have drastic consequences.

Ms Jones said that TikTok is the perfect place to communicate with young people. The 24-year-old saw her own Instagram following leap from 6,000 to 44,000 in two years, gathering 20,000 followers in just two weeks but she has now embraced TikTok which she believes will eclipse Instagram in the near future.

“TikTok is where the teenagers are," she said. "It seems to have eclipsed Snapchat in popularity."

So it completely makes sense when you’re targetting that demographic when it comes to the conversation about consent. It’s a very exciting campaign and like nothing I’ve ever heard of.

"More than ever, social media is empowering young people and allowing them to occupy a space of influence that we can’t underestimate."

Tomorrow, the DRCC will host a closed, voluntary day of workshops and brainstorming sessions about consent with Ms Jones and her fellow TikTok users in Dublin.  These young creatives will then be challenged to develop content around this issue to resonate with 16-24-year-olds.

"I’ll be really looking forward to seeing what the TikTokkers bring to the table because they’re really creative," Ms Jones said.

"They’ve really tapped into what this app is and what it can offer. It’s great to be able to combine something like content creation and having fun on social media while also trying to bring home a bigger message, particularly one as important as consent."