In a TikTok video, a woman reads a lengthy breakup message from her partner and then uses the Aqua Voice app to dictate her reply. The brief, 11-second clip garnered over a million views. However, a look at her account reveals a pattern: she repeatedly gets “dumped” for various reasons, using the same app to respond each time.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Ceci Beck—the creator of the video—was actually in a stable relationship with her fiancé at the time and was not going through a real breakup. She was paid over $800 to run an account dedicated to promoting Aqua Voice.
She stated that she earns an average of $6,000 per month creating this type of “user-generated content” (UGC).
Videos like these—paid for by brands but filmed to look like ordinary people sharing their lives—are becoming a low-cost promotional tool for startups. Nick Lawton, CEO of the UGC platform Sideshift, noted that brands can hire large numbers of everyday people to film videos for as little as $20 each and post them frequently across social media platforms.
As social media algorithms increasingly prioritize content based on interests rather than a creator’s follower count, even ordinary people with small audiences can generate significant traffic. Coupled with the AI-driven surge in consumer software startups—which has created a massive demand for low-cost promotion—the UGC sector is booming.
However, these posts often lack clear disclosure that they are advertisements, potentially violating platform policies set by TikTok, Meta, and YouTube, as well as regulations enforced by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC).