Gifts for strangers: the ‘ethically ambiguous’ TikTok trend using unknowing people as fodder for content

In viral videos, content creators film themselves surprising strangers with toys, food and wads of cash - whether they like it or not

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Picture the scene. You're sitting alone, enjoying a coffee. Maybe you've got a podcast on. Maybe you're on the phone to your mum. Enter a random person clutching a bunch of flowers.

Would you be able to hold this?" they ask, before gliding away, content in the knowledge they've just made your day (probably).