A Melbourne woman says she is upset with a TikTok user for filming her without her consent and posting a video of her online.
TikTok creator Harrison Pawluk, 22, filmed himself giving the woman a bunch of flowers and then walking away.
The video, which has been viewed over 59 million times, was flooded with comments about how kind the gesture was.
One user commented: "My heart! That made her feel so good and it looks like she might have needed it."
Another used said: "Wow that is so beautiful. I swear I would cry."
Despite this, the Melbourne woman said she felt like was used as clickbait and was upset he filmed her without permission.
"He interrupted my quiet time, filmed and uploaded a video without my consent, turning it into something it wasn't, and I feel like he is making quite a lot of money through it.
"It's the patronising assumption that women, especially older women, will be thrilled by some random stranger giving them flowers," she told ABC Radio Melbourne.
She said at the time she didn't think much of it until people started texting her about it and news articles came out, claiming she was a lonely, elderly woman.
"At first it was just a bit of a joke to me, but then I felt dehumanised after reading the article," she said.
"The article said: 'old woman, elderly woman, heartbreaking tale'.
"And they got this picture of me supposedly crying, but it was just a horrible expression.
"I feel like clickbait," she told ABC Radio Melbourne.
The Melbourne woman said she wanted people to be aware of people doing these random acts of kindness for social media views.
"I think other women, especially older women, should be aware that if it can happen to me, it can happen to anybody," she said.
"I don't do any Facebook, Instagram, TikTok - anything - and yet it happened to me."
Pawluk's team said in a statement that: "His videos are filmed in public places and so technically do not require consent.
"Having said that, while he has only so far encountered gratitude, if someone is upset, then they should feel free to personally email him.
"He would not want something designed to spread love and compassion to cause anyone concern."
