Colonialism for clicks: White creators are turning isolated communities into content
A growing number of foreign content creators, mostly white men, are travelling to some of the world’s most isolated islands and Indigenous territories in search of “first contact” footage, viral fame and online profit.
Human rights groups say the trend is not exploration. It is exploitation: turning people who have chosen isolation into entertainment for likes, subscriptions and advertising money.
The new conquest
Survival International says it is tracking about a dozen accounts across YouTube, TikTok and Instagram that post about uncontacted peoples. Many of the creators are white men operating in South America or Asia.
The charity warns that some creators are actively seeking contact with isolated communities, while others use “adventure” language and images to build an audience around the idea of finding people who have refused outside contact.
The pattern has been described as “colonialism for clicks”, a modern version of an old impulse: outsiders seeking land, gold, rubber, timber, souls and now online attention.
The danger is not just privacy
For uncontacted peoples, a visitor can be deadly. Communities with little exposure to outsiders may have no immunity to common illnesses such as flu or colds.
Survival International warns that even one forced contact could expose an entire community to disease, while also encouraging land theft and destruction of the resources they depend on.
The group says nearly half of the world’s 196 uncontacted Indigenous communities could be wiped out within a decade unless governments and platforms act.
The North Sentinel example
In April 2025, American YouTuber Mykhailo Polyakov travelled by dinghy to North Sentinel Island, home to the Sentinelese, one of the world’s most isolated communities.
He reportedly tried to attract attention by blowing a whistle and leaving a coconut and a can of Diet Coke on the beach. Indian authorities arrested him for violating the island’s strict protection laws.
He was fined 15,000 rupees, about $158, and held for three weeks. He later said he would “probably still do it again.”
Privacy is also being violated
The problem extends beyond isolated tribes. Influencers are increasingly filming people in public spaces without meaningful consent, using smart glasses and hidden cameras to turn strangers into content.
In Blackpool, England, the local council pleaded for “compassion” after so-called auditors began filming residents without their knowledge and posting the footage online for views and money.
Experts say filming someone is not the same as obtaining informed consent. People may agree to be recorded without understanding how widely the footage will be shared, monetised or used to mock them.
Platforms are part of the problem
YouTube, TikTok and Instagram reward shock, exclusivity and “first contact” narratives. That gives creators an incentive to treat vulnerable people as content opportunities.
Survival International wants platforms to remove videos filmed in prohibited Indigenous territories and to ban monetisation of such material.
It says isolated peoples are “not living entertainment,” and their rights cannot be exchanged for likes on TikTok or subscriptions on YouTube.
The ethical line
Travel and storytelling are not automatically wrong. Indigenous communities can choose to welcome visitors, share their culture and benefit from tourism.
But ethical engagement requires free, prior and informed consent, fair compensation, transparency about how footage will be used, and respect for a community’s right to say no.
The problem begins when a creator arrives with a camera, a script and a hunger for virality, and treats another people’s isolation as a prize to be captured.
The bottom line
This is not adventure. It is not discovery. It is not cultural exchange.
It is the old colonial gaze dressed in a GoPro, a drone and a content calendar.
Isolated communities are not content. They are human beings with the right to privacy, safety and self-determination. And no number of likes should be allowed to put their lives at risk.
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