TikTok users are ??? ? ??calling for more visibility for creators of color on the platform.
The app's For You Page, a never ending queue of trending content, displays videos based on content the user has already engaged with. Nobody outside of TikTok itself knows how the algorithm works, and TikTok declined to comment on it for Mashable, but some users claim that the app's most popular faces are overwhelmingly white. Tired of not seeing people who look like them while scrolling through the app, the users are raising awareness for better representation.
Larry Hudson III, a 20-year-old TikTok user, created an audio clip calling for better representation in the app's trending page. Through the in-app editing feature, users can use audio uploaded by other users to make their own videos.
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"This is a message for all my black TikTokers," Hudson said in the video posted October 19, which has since been used in multiple viral videos. "There ain't enough of us on the For You Page, so use this sound and say the words 'black power' and the people watching will give you a like and a follow. Wakanda forever, my brothers and sisters."
Then he made the salute from Black Panther, which has become a sign of solidarity and pride since the movie's 2018 premiere.
In Instagram DMs to Mashable, Hudson said he wanted to make the TikTok after seeing videos from people who claimed users were more likely to scroll past content with black creators. He also drew inspiration from the calls for better representation in the entertainment industry after his high school drama teacher explained how a more diverse Hollywood "provided actors the opportunity to live their dreams."
"So in my response I created a sound that all African American TikTokers could use," he continued. "Hopefully this is an eye-opener to those that are blinded by our society."
Although TikTok keeps the details of its algorithm secret, it is public knowledge that high engagement tends to sway a video's popularity. Some users, Vice reports, theorize that TikTok's "batch" algorithm shows videos to a small group of users, and if the video receives a certain ratio of engagement-to-views, it'll be shown to a larger batch of users. Under this theory, the video's spread depends on how many likes, comments, and shares it receives.
Which is why users like @graciewaciee claim it's the "civic duty" of the TikTok community to engage with videos that don't have thousands of likes and comments yet, because the videos are "probably going to die soon" without the engagement.
Regardless of whether the theory is correct, Hudson's sound didget enough engagement to land on the For You Page. TikTok users @lilhomie.zy and @taylurgang received 194,5000 and 257,500 likes, respectively, by using his audio in their own videos. Hudson's call for a like and follow worked, playing the algorithm into showing videos that used his audio to hundreds of thousands of users.
But going viral also opened the creators up to backlash from other users. Taylurgang responded to criticism from other users who complained the audio was calling for "segregation."
In the duet with her original video, she told users, "THIS ISN'T ABOUT SEPARATING THE RACES ON TIKTOK. It's addressing that there is a lack of diversity on TikTok. But some of y'all aren't ready to have that conversation yet and it shows."
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable Hudson received hate as well. In a now-deleted video, three white teenagers swapped out "black power" from his original audio with a racial slur. It's unclear whether the video was taken down by the original user or by TikTok, but it racked up comments after Hudson reposted it with criticism.
"Now that's just downright offensive," he told Mashable. "To those three that created that video I hope they have a change of heart and realized creating a video with so much negativity is definitely not acceptable."
Granted, the For You Page is personalized. Unless you aren't logged into the app, the page will show a tailored queue, and it's unlikely that any regular user's For You Page will look the same. But TikTok users' claims of a lack of diversity runs deeper than the app's algorithm, and have more to do with the culture of TikTok.
In a version of the Iggy Azalea door meme, in which the "rap game" struggles to keep Azalea out of a room while a disgusted music industry declares "Oh my god, no, do not let her in!" TikTok user Mackenzie Gutierrez called out the app's beauty standards.
"Let me in, I be the I-G-G-Y," the 17-year-old begs under a label that says "diversity." She also plays the person trying to shut the door, labeled "cutest girls on TikTok videos," and the disgusted third person already in the room, labeled "white boys."
In a Twitter DM, Gutierrez told Mashable she doesn't consider herself "the most diverse" but was tired of seeing compilation videos praising only white TikTok users.
"I think the people on TikTok idealize white features," she said. "And then people who aren't white get less than half the attention white people get."
Hudson and Gutierrez have two different complaints with the app's culture, but the issue they raise is the same: Creators of color have a harder time gaming the algorithm for engagement, which limits their ability to push for better representation.
When reached for comment, a TikTok spokesperson provided a list of videos that had received high engagement recently, all of which were posted by users of color.
"TikTok is committed to building an app experience that supports our diverse community of users in their pursuits to show creativity and be themselves," the spokesperson said in an email.
The issue likely doesn't stem from the app itself — it's a symptom of the larger, culture-wide fact that if you're not white, you'll probably have to hustle harder than someone who is. But whether it's in academia, a career path, or gaining popularity on an app full of teenagers, Gutierrez is hopeful for creators of color.
"Keep doing what they’re doing," she concluded. "They’ll be seen and heard."