Internet Culture: Racism Is The New “Trend” on TikTok

Should Black Creators Continue To Make Content On TikTok?

Social media has dominated society for the last ten years and its reign has only become more potent in Covid:19 Lockdown. At a time where you can hope that the majority of the population is self-isolating at home. Platforms like TikTok have become a powder cake of fame seekers taking to their smartphones and creating content in the comfort of their own homes. 

Tiktok creators are prompted to make short dances, lip-sync, talent or comedy videos that are displayed for 15 seconds to the audience, where they are shown instant gratification through likes and shares. Though a place to find entertainment and appreciate the creativity and comedic talents of many young and gifted creators. In exchange for 15-second fame, TikTok has also become a place where racism has come to thrive. 

As a black woman, I am no stranger to seeing derogatory content about my race. I spent the majority of my teen years, witnessing the cruelty that social media brought out in people hiding behind their screens. However, the cruelty and ignorance of people has now graduated to racially in-sensitive content being published for entertainment, on popular platform TikTok. 

In a world where so many people are competing for an online presence for the lucrative prize of becoming viral. Offensive images and videos are all over TikTok, under the guise of a new “challenge” or “trend”. And whilst creators and users of colour on TikTok have been vocal about the app’s hypocritical policies towards racist content, nothing has changed. Instead, those who speak out about the issues on the app have their posts taken down. Whilst blatantly racist users are free to create content that seek to only mock and spew hatred towards black people. 

The popularity of TikTok has sky-rocketed because of the raw and comedic talent of black creators. The music, the culture and the dances are made possible by the ruling popularity of black culture in all forms of media. So should black creators continue to create content on an app that seems to have no interest in protecting us?

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