A TikTok brand called Cozy Toes Co. (@thecozytoesco) was called out for allegedly stealing a creator’s video to promote its own ads. And hers apparently isn’t the only one.
Gabi Hernandez (@gabiannh), a vegan influencer, posted about Cozy Toes Co. last week, explaining that an older TikTok of hers, in which she reviews a vegan Uggs dupe from the brand Cushionaire, was stolen and used in a Cozy Toes ad, with the actual brand obscured.
The company also apparently blocked Hernandez so she couldn’t comment on it. She only knew about it because other people commented on it.
@gabiannh Maybe people already know about this or can tell the content is stolen, but just in case…don’t buy any “dupe” advertisements that you see on here, because they all make money off of stolen content and then block the original creators because they know what they’re doing is wrong #tiktokscam #cozytoesco #cozytoescoreview #stolencontent #tiktokadscam ♬ original sound – Gabi Hernandez
“Just the fact that they feel the need to steal content and then block creators is just so pathetic,” she says in the TikTok, which has more than 63,000 views. This exact scenario has happened to other creators as well, with other dubious TikTok brands.
“And they had the audacity to watermark it too,” said one commenter.
Hernandez has more than 700 followers, so perhaps the company thought lifting a video from a smaller creator wouldn’t be noticeable. In a follow-up video, Hernandez says she filed a complaint and the TikTok was eventually taken down, though she’s not sure they’re connected. Her original video, from August, has more than 29,000 views, but she says the Cozy Toes version of it got around 60,000, “so clearly they made some profit off of it.”
@gabiannh #stitch with @gabiannh #greenscreen Update on #cozytoesco stealing my video and trying to fool people into thinking I was reviewing their scammer brand #cozytoescoreview #veganuggdupes #tiktokscam #stolencontent🤡 #adscam ♬ original sound – Gabi Hernandez
The Daily Dot reached out to Hernandez for comment via email. She says in the follow-up that she knows other creators currently featured on the Cozy Toes page have also had their content stolen. The comments on its most recent TikTok are almost exclusively about missing or delayed orders, and there are other negative reviews of the brand on TikTok.
@robynnemcmillan Only posting because I wish I would have seen an actual review!! BE WARNED! #cozytoescoreview #fyp #foryou #review #knockoffbrands #dontwasteyourmoney #negativeWOM
♬ original sound – ROB
We also reached out to Cozy Toes for comment via email.
Update Dec. 3, 9:35am CT: Hernandez responded to the Daily Dot via email, saying she’s “pretty sure” Cozy Toes is a newer brand, “but I’ve seen a ton of similar accounts selling Ugg dupes that also use stolen content in their ads. I’m guessing these are just various dropshippers that want to make a quick buck, and are all downloading whatever content they can find. (A lot of them use the exact same clips, which was why I was surprised more people hadn’t caught on to it!)”
