A new podcast from the Guardian examines the growing trend of influencers travelling the world to stream their attempts to contact uncontacted tribes, a practice that indigenous rights groups warn could prove fatal.
Influencer lands on North Sentinel Island
The Sentinelese, who live on North Sentinel Island in the Bay of Bengal, are among the most isolated peoples on earth. The island is part of an archipelago governed by India, where it is prohibited by law to venture within 5km. In 2018, a missionary who managed to land on the beach was killed by bow and arrow.
Despite these dangers, influencer Mykhailo Polyakov filmed himself arriving on North Sentinel Island last year and leaving a can of Coke on the beach.
Risks to communities and social media stars
Features writer Elle Hunt documents the rise of this new breed of influencer, who stream to millions their attempts to contact the uncontacted. The warnings from indigenous rights groups highlight that the consequences could be fatal, both for the social media stars and for the communities they risk exposing to disease.
Helen Pidd also speaks to Ecuadorian indigenous rights activist María José Andrade Cerda about the rights and wrongs of this new world.
