TikTok and Race

TikTok is the fast growing social media app in which users can share, like, repost, and comment on short videos. TikTok’s algorithm is known for how fast it can identify a user's interests to feed those users' content based on those interests. With about 1 billion active users, TikTok has the incredible ability to both impact and be impacted by culture. Many of the most influential TikTok creators are White while many Black creators struggle to rise to fame. TikTok echoes racial power dynamics in the US as the algorithm encourages the most popular videos to appear first on the app’s search page. With the algorithm also encouraging videos on a users’ For You Page based on interests leaves a dangerous space for the dissemination of alt-Right or White supremacist ideas. This leads many users and academics alike to question: does TikTok encourage racism? (add citation).

History of TikTok

The TikTok app is a social media platform in which small video clips are presented to the user based on a constant stream. The For You Page and an endless page of these videos specifically tailored to the interest of the user, how this is done is not exactly known. While not gaining popularity until COVID-19, the TikTok app is an amalgamation of three different apps previously launched, one of which was Musical.ly created in 2014. Chinese tech giant ByteDAnce also launched a similar platform called Douyin. In 2018, ByteDance bought Musica.ly and wanted to expand and rebrand itself under the name TikTok. The TikTok application is known for its powerful algorithm that seems to learn user's preferences faster than other social media platforms before. (add citations)

TikTok's Recommendation Algorithm

TikTok’s algorithm is known for its ability to capture a users’ interest fast and continually suggest new content to consume based on those interests. While TikTok has never completely shared their algorithm to the public, they have shared some information. Meanwhile many algorithm professionals and users alike have created their own theories about how the TikTok algorithm promotes content.

TikTok's Algorithm

TikTok’s algorithm thrives off of the recommendation For You Page in order to personalize each user's content. The algorithm uses features like video title, audio, and tags in order to isolate these interests. According to the WSJ video, a TikTok representative has shared that shares, likes, and follows influence how TikTok learns about you, not by listening through your device. While this is true, based on a study conducted by WSJ how long you engage with a video or pause on a video gives TikTok the indication to use this like hashtags, video titles, or audios to promote similar content. A new user For You Page starts by showing a variety of popular videos. Based on the interaction with the videos, the TikTok algorithm starts to understand the user’s preferences, and starts to suggest more content that aligns with those preferences. From here, the algorithm will push the user into more and more specific, and unvetted, videos based on their interests. Using IP addresses, TikTok also takes into account your location to suggest videos; however, the user's engagement with those videos determines how much more of that content they will see. An overwhelming majority of content (90-95%) consumed on TikTok comes from the apps recommendation For You Page. (add citations)

For You Page

TikTok’s For You Page is a recommendation page that feeds the user endless content of both celebrities and “normal people” based on popularity, and also your interests. The data collected from engaging in the post involved in the algorithm is used to show users content that they are likely to enjoy. Multiple factors are used for the algorithm to determine the content on a users’ For You Page. These factors include interactions with videos (liking/sharing/commenting), following new accounts, video information (hashtags, sounds, anc captions), and device settings (language, location). These factors are used to personalize the For You Page for each user, making it more likely to consume videos that they enjoy. (add citations)

TikTok's Search Page

On TikTok’s search page users can search for anything and find results based on hashtags, captions, users etc. The search page is not ordered chronologically, but rather by popularity. TikTok has acknowledged that interactions with videos on the search page will be used in the algorithm to expand the videos shown on a users’ For You Page. (add citations)

TikTok and its Ethical Impacts on Race

"The D'Amelio Effect" and "Algorithmic Privilege"

TikTok has the incredible ability to impact US culture. And Charlie D’Amelio has the incredible ability to impact TikTok. Along with Charlie TikTok stars like Addison Rae, Loren Gray, Dixie D’Amelio, Lil Huddy, Noah Beck, and Bryce Hall set the culture on TikTok and in turn the US with their millions of followers. All of these stars have one thing in common - they are all white of “white-passing”. This continues to elevate white majority voices, reflecting pre-existing racial dynamics in the US. It continues to reinforce white beauty standards. This is not to say that these stars are necessarily at fault. “Algorithmic privilege” refers to the privilege people have when their identity allows them to reap the benefits of the algorithm. In the search feature of the app, TikToks do not show up chronologically, but rather by popularity. Thus, it is much more likely for someone to search for a dance and learn it from Charlie D’Amelio as opposed to from the dance’s Black creator. It is important to think about why Charlie became so popular, and part of it is due to her fitting White beauty standards. The more a user consumes content from creators like Charlie D’Amelio the more likely the algorithm will learn that you want to see more content like that, further pushing her and other White creators’ content. There have been numerous examples of Charlie D’Amelio performing a dance created by a Black creator. Even when she does give credit to the original creator, the algorithm naturally allows for Charlie’s videos to rise astronomically, further contributing to her fame. The algorithm allows for White creators to maintain popularity while making it harder for Black creators to rise to the top - earning many White creators “algorithmic privilege”. Not only does this create a lack of representation on people’s For You Pages, but this also has real economic consequences. When Charlie performs a dance a Black creator, it contributes to her engagement rate and fandom. This engagement and massive amounts of followers give Charlie extreme economic value - to the point where she could make millions of dollars off of one sponsored post. While TikTok’s allure comes from the idea that anyone can get famous, the app pushes a lot of content based on popularity and numbers to their new users. If that new user pauses or rewatched Charlie D’Amelio’s dance, more similar content or content from her page is likely to appear. The algorithm encourages users to engage with popular videos and creators (many who happen to be White) and thus continues to push that content to attempt to capture the user's attention. This makes TikTok a place of high White visibility and of low racial diversity visibility. (add citations)

Digital Appropriation

Keara Wilson is a young Black creator on TikTok, who invented the viral dance for “Savage” by Megan Thee Stallion. Wilson performed her dance five times on TikTok until Charlie D’Amelio recreated it on her own account - making the dance viral. The #SavageChallenge blew up from Charlie D’Amelio, resulting in more fame for both D’Amelio and Megan Thee Stallion, translating into more money. While Wilson enjoyed her time briefly in the spotlight, she did not reap many benefits from creating the viral challenge. While this dance was recreated with no malicious intent, by having a famous White creator perform a dance made by a dramatically less famous Black creator, the algorithm allows for the famous White creator will have more visibility on the app, allowing her more benefits, and in some ways taking credit where credit is not due. Dances created by Black especially female creators are often a form of expression - of race, gender, sexuality etc. The identity of the creator is co-opted when a White creator performs an expression of identity that is not her own. Yet, the algorithm will continue to elevate these videos based on success and following translating to profit. White creators are using “Black femme” rhythms, movements, and gestures to increase their fame, thus increasing their economic value while Black creators simply get “dc” or dance credits. TikTok allows for the rapid spread of videos, and thus manipulation and edits of those videos making it easy for the original creators to get lost in the trail of virality. When trends are tied to one’s culture and identity, they are often “digitally appropriated” on their way to being viral. For example, Charlie D’Amelio performing to ____ with moves tying to Black culture she is (most likely unintentionally) using someone else’s culture for profit. Her fame and the way in which TikTok allows users to share or recreate trends allows a dance like ___ to continue to be digitally appropriated. (add citation

TikTok as an Echo Chamber

The TikTok algorithm uses data such as engagement with videos, followers, likes, hashtags etc. to quickly identify a user’s interest to target both regular content and advertisements alike. This creates a type of rabbit hole effect, as TikTok shows you content you are highly likely to want to engage with based on past activity. As TikTok learns more about your interests, it pushes the user into deeper and more extreme versions of content that are less moderated than more of the mainstream popular videos. The TikTok algorithm thus allows people to get caught in a echochamber of their own interests and ideas, with a somewhat limited diversity of content. This can be very dangerous especially with extremist ideas. Forbes reported that when a user followed a White woman with blond hair, he started to see many more White women with bond hair on his For You Page. While this is not an extremist idea, this does reduce the diversity of people that that user is exposed to. As the algorithm uses people’s interests, this can push content that confirms people’s pre-existing biases. In an academic study on hate speech and extremist views on TikTok it was found in a sample of 1,030 videos posted on TikTok (about 8 hours of content) that 30% of videos promoted white supremacy. The most viewed video reaching 2 million views about anti-Asian hatred due to Covid-19. One of the top ten most-viewed videos in the sample was a video of a White supremacist who is currently in jail. Although TikTok removes hateful content, it happens very inconsistently. These videos spreading harmful racist ideas can spread extremely fast and are most likely fed to users that already engage in similar content. This type of content, while it does drive engagement, just further confirms the users view and promotes hate and racism, which has extreme consequences in the real world. (add citation)