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TikTok has come under scrutiny after one of their very own users pointed out that there was a very clear bias within the algorithm that hurt people of color and supported white supremacy simultaneously.
Creator Ziggi Tyler was doing some digging when he realized that several key phrases, including "Black Lives Matter," "Black people," and "supporting Black excellence" were blocked from TikTok's Creator's Marketplace.
However, the phrases "white supremacy" and "supporting white excellence" were not.
Tiktok user @ziggityler demonstrating how in the creator marketplace tiktok flags anything related to the word 'black', no matter how innocuous, as inappropriate but 'white supremacy' is fine.pic.twitter.com/QJ8Jpttx0A— Andrew Galvin (@Andrew Galvin) 1625580968
An update: (because apparently being black on that app isn\u2019t allowed but being a neo nazi is? K. )pic.twitter.com/9ecIf0tvPe— Ziggi Tyler (@Ziggi Tyler) 1625613069
TikTok also flagged Tyler's profile when he said the words "I am a Black man," but not when he said the words "I am a neo-Nazi" or "I am anti-semitic."
Whew, this isn\u2019t just exposing TikTok. This is how all these platforms work, more or less.pic.twitter.com/qFFvkyc9PD— Pariss Athena | Founder of Black Tech Pipeline (@Pariss Athena | Founder of Black Tech Pipeline) 1625540426
Humans write the algorithm. This is captured racism, prejudice, exclusion, and bias. They intentionally wrote code to keep Black creatives/Black ppl from receiving any type of exposure or monetization.— Pariss Athena | Founder of Black Tech Pipeline (@Pariss Athena | Founder of Black Tech Pipeline) 1625573007
Maybe it's time Black folk stop supporting @tiktok_us— Lisa Modlin (@Lisa Modlin) 1625586936
Key people at Tik Tok: \n\nShou Zi Chew, Erich Anderson, Blake Chandlee, & Vanessa Pappas.pic.twitter.com/hTCyxJiXjp— \u25b3\u20d2\u20d8 (@\u25b3\u20d2\u20d8) 1625585751
Several creators and other folks took notice of the algorithm's significant bias toward anti-blackness.
In an event that is unclear if it is related to this exposé or not, TikTok went down in the afternoon of July 6th, the day the video went viral, and several users saw their algorithms reshuffled completely.
It\u2019s deeper than a dance strike. TikTok is actively denying creator funding for any type of content related to black folk on their app. The algorithm is literally anti black. You\u2019re telling me \u2018white supremacy\u2019 isn\u2019t inappropriate content??pic.twitter.com/1stSv84rfd— Erick (@Erick) 1625579456
TikTok\u2019s algorithm sucks so here y\u2019all gopic.twitter.com/ZQDpPhiNRU— Moon\u2077 \u2661 (@Moon\u2077 \u2661) 1626062508
TikTok is a big part of my business & all these big companies are likely anti-black too. However, this is so egregious that I now feel compromised. They have literally programmed the algorithm to be anti-black. The black creators I know get vids pulled all the time & now THIS https://twitter.com/beingkaylasmith/status/1412458734001995778\u00a0\u2026— StreamLord Cyph \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\uddfe\ud83d\udcc8 (@StreamLord Cyph \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\uddfe\ud83d\udcc8) 1625687248
Racism is in tech algorithms. And we\u2019re seeing a very clear example here of anti-Blackness in the block list used for tiktok. \n\nWhat are these tech orgs doing about this? Because posting a Black square & putting up words on a page sure as hell isn\u2019t cutting it. Be accountable!https://twitter.com/HeadlinerClip/status/1412375200352530432\u00a0\u2026— Sheree Atcheson #DemandingMore OUT NOW\ud83d\udcd9 (@Sheree Atcheson #DemandingMore OUT NOW\ud83d\udcd9) 1625580474
TikTok released a statement on the issue to publication Indy100.
"Our TikTok Creator Marketplace protections, which flag phrases typically associated with hate speech, were erroneously set to flag phrases without respect to word order."
"We recognize and apologize for how frustrating this was to experience, and our team has fixed this significant error. To be clear, Black Lives Matter does not violate our policies and currently has over 27B views on our platform."
Dear @tiktok_us \n\nI find this EXTREMELY disturbing and incredibly racist.\n\nYou may be an online platform, but you\u2019re still subject to racial discrimination in commerce laws. \n\nFix this or you could easily face a massive class action lawsuit for violation of Section 1981.https://twitter.com/parissathena/status/1412245023857557508\u00a0\u2026— Pam Keith, Esq. (@Pam Keith, Esq.) 1625543519
A perfect example of what is systemic about racism.— Madmama - I DISSENT (@Madmama - I DISSENT) 1625588360
I\u2019m having difficulty understanding how a commercial enterprise could embrace blatant racism so enthusiastically. It doesn\u2019t make sense because it is self defeating.— Jay Carter (@Jay Carter) 1625588504
This is not acceptable!!— Sahil Aujla (@Sahil Aujla) 1625577459
And yet morons like @tedcruz think teaching youth about CRT is a communist conspiracy.— Andrew McFadden (@Andrew McFadden) 1625841268
Whether or not the algorithm has truly been fixed is not clear, but either way, something major has been exposed about algorithms in general.
Algorithms are written by humans, therefore algorithms will always have a bias. Social media alone will never be a fully effective tool for social justice.