Every year there's an app that goes viral with popularity—Instagram, Snapchat, Vine, and now Tik Tok. There are the homes of viral challenges, dance crazes, and just simple creative fun. But there has been a growing rise in censorship, specifically at black content creators.
Tik Tok has been criticized for censoring black creators. It's even happened to me before as well as other people. People have had their videos deleted, banned from live events, shadowbanned, or even had their accounts suspended because their content does not fit the funny and marketable Tik Tok image. They promote the popular creators that steal content from black creatives. For example, The renegade challenge was made by a sixteen-year-old girl in Atlanta, but it was made famous by the people of The Hype House Fame. She then got her credit after people spoke out on it and was able to do her actual full dance at All-Star Weekend this year. We have to fight to get credit and be able to create content.Recently, Tik Tok users had a Blackout Day for solidarity for black Tik Tok creators. Others participated, and it became a whole movement on the platform. Creators had the black fist as their profile picture and promoted only black creators. It even was mentioned on CNN, and it got Tik Tok's attention. But apparently, that wasn't enough. With the recent death of George Floyd, his name and the hashtag "Black Lives Matter," was blocked from the app. Many people spoke out on this, and they claimed it was a "technical error." They tried to clean up after themselves by donating one million dollars to black organizations in support and making a blanket company statement about standing in solidarity with black lives matter.
In the times that we live in, how can you pledge to be with the movement when you continue to censor and block black creatives. It took Charlie Damelio, one of the biggest and most popular creators, speaking on the matter for it to be taken seriously. With the millions of people on this app, we can easily leave and go to another platform that will support us and do better by us if this censorship continues. If the app is a place for everyone, then be fair and let everyone express themselves as creatives.
