#BlackVoicesHeard: Black Creators on TikTok have had enough
Imagine heading to your favorite social media to check out some posts by your favorite creators, only to discover that creator has been suspended from the platform, or worse, had their account banned entirely.
Now imagine that you start to notice a pattern: that all of the accounts getting banned happened to be operated by Black creators. This is the reality on the viral video app, TikTok.
Earlier this year, it was revealed that TikTok had been deliberately disabling the accounts of disabled, fat, or LGBTQ creators. TikTok has also been outed for punishing creators of Color for calling out the racism that runs virtually unchecked on the app while seemingly doing nothing about the actual racism there. Black creators have their accounts shadow-banned, suspended, and outright banned for simply discussing issues of culture.
These are just a few reasons that lead Lex Scott, founder of Black Lives Matter Utah, initiated this “black out movement” when she posted this TikTok video on May 7 calling on fellow creators to participate in the protest.
The protest, planned for May 19th in honor of Malcolm X’s birthday, garnered unprecedented support across the platform. That support has gained the attention of news outlets like CNN.
