Why TikTokers are quitting vapes over DR Congo - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk
A swell of online interest in the central African nation has young adults questioning what they puff.
  • AutoTL;DRBEnglish
    6•10 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    DR Congo, a central African country, is the world’s main source of cobalt, a key component of the lithium-ion batteries used in mobile phones, electric vehicles and many models of e-cigarette.

    As reports of the recent unrest spread, social media users have been questioning the role international companies and consumers have in DR Congo’s woes.

    “The first time I heard about the impacts of cobalt mining in Congo was from a TikTok [video],” Ms Ndango, who lives in the United States, tells the BBC.

    In September, a report from Amnesty International found multinational companies mining for copper and cobalt in DR Congo had forcefully evicted entire communities.

    However, Christoph Vogel, author of Conflict Minerals, Inc.: War, Profit and White Saviourism in Eastern Congo, believes such digital activism is a “double-edged sword”.

    “There are widespread human rights violations, including child labour, in the context of cobalt mining - adding to significant health hazard,” says Mr Vogel, a UN Security Council expert on DR Congo who spent years working in the country.

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