M’sian teacher-influencer, 26, apologises for going through students’ bags in TikTok ad for supplements company

Ting Shi Qi, better known as Qiwiie on the internet, is a teacher at a private school in Kuala Lumpur, as well as a social media influencer with more than a million followers on TikTok.

 

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A post shared by Shi Qi (@qiwiie)

Shi Qi’s content typically consists of wholesome conversations with her young students and her day-to-day activities as a teacher.

One of the 26-year-old’s most popular videos features her students imitating YouTuber Steven He’s iconic “emotional damage” line in class.

The video garnered a reaction video from Malaysia-born comedian Nigel Ng, and the students even received a shout-out from Steven himself.

@mrnigelng

Never gets old @qiwiie @Steven He #uncleroger #emotionaldamage

♬ original sound – Nigel Ng (Uncle Roger)

Her TikTok videos are usually well-received by the internet, but a recent one spark so much backlash that Shi Qi made a public apology and took the rest of the posts off her account.

The video in question saw her going through students’ bags and eating a gummy that she appeared to find.

But viewers took issue with her for violating her students’ privacy.

Some, however, thought it was fine.

Meanwhile, there’s also speculation that it may be an ad for supplement brand Scott’s, after seeing the content creator finding the brand’s gummy multiple times in the video.

This is an ads. No one can convince me otherwise lol pic.twitter.com/q8xXfvmybr

— 🍉 عائشه (@aisyatry2evolve) June 19, 2023

Apology post

After the backlash, Shi Qi deleted the TikTok and posted an apology directed to the parents and individuals who were offended by the video.

She explained that the video was indeed sponsored content, and she had placed the gummies in her students’ bags.

While she usually seeks parental consent before featuring students, she didn’t do so for this video as there were no students in it.

“I did not seek consent before opening the bags as they were used as props. This is an oversight and my fault, which I deeply regret.”

Still learning

She added that she took down the video 20 minutes after it was first published.

Shi Qi continued that she is new to content creation and “still learning”.

“This is not an excuse. I am honestly very grateful to everyone who has brought this issue up and I will take this as a lesson to be more mindful and conscientious in the future.”

She concluded her statement:

“For now, all videos with children have been removed from my social media. I will take this time to reflect on my future content plans so I can do better for my students.”

Top image from @qiwiie and TikTok.