In late 2019, social media app TikTok came under fire after admitting to burying videos by disabled, queer, and fat creators. According to TikTok, the suppression was done in an attempt to limit cyberbullying of “vulnerable” accounts.
According to the 2019 article Elena Botella wrote for Slate, “TikTok Admits It Suppressed Videos by Disabled, Queer, and Fat Creators,” TikTok would “stop their videos from being shown to audiences outside their home countries and, in some cases, would even prevent their videos from appearing in other users’ feeds.”
On social media, the act of a site suppressing a certain user’s media without notification is called shadowbanning.
Recently, TikTok has once again garnered attention for all the wrong reasons. In the wake of George Floyd’s death #BlackLivesMatter and #GeorgeFloyd began trending on TikTok. Almost immediately, users began complaining about their Black Lives Matters videos raking in fewer views than usual. Some videos using the hashtags were also taken down for violating TikTok’s terms of service despite never actually violating the terms.
In the beginning of June, TikTok spoke out and claimed that a “technical glitch” was what caused the #BlackLivesMatter and #GeorgeFloyd videos to appear shadowbanned. They vowed to help uplift Black creators and causes.
While a jump from censoring creators in an attempt to “stop bullying” and censoring an entire movement may seem like an exaggeration, this isn’t the first time TikTok has been accused of censoring protests. In late 2019, the app was accused of censoring videos of the Hong Kong protests.
Whether by glitch or not– and whether or not TikTok swears to offer aid from now on– TikTok clearly has a history of suppressing the voices of the people who need to be heard most. I’m not trying to tell you that you should delete TikTok. I don’t think that’s my call to make, especially if you believe the information that is given out on TikTok is important enough to keep using the app.
TikTok is hardly the first social media site to be accused of enabling bigotry on their platform. Earlier this year, Twitter formally apologized for allowing advertisements to target neo-nazis and other bigots specifically. Facebook and Twitter were both found to be overrun with Russian bots that helped campaign for Donald Trump during the 2016 election.
In an attempt to fight the stigma that came along with spreading misinformation, Facebook has teamed up with Politifact to check the validity of political posts.
In truth, I don’t doubt that this is just a stunt to get back in the public’s good favor. Facebook got a slap on the wrist, and now they’re trying to make up for it by allowing false information to stay on their website so long as it gets a shiny seal of disapproval. A shiny seal that can be clicked away and ignored in favor of choosing to believe the information beneath it.
Sure, it’s great to let people know when something is false– but it would be even better to remove the false information.
The issue with social media sites allowing misinformation to spread while effectively declaring war on sensitive topics is that it silences people using their platform to spread true information. These aren’t conversations to be avoided, they’re conversations to be had, and there’s no better place to have them.
When journalists are being attacked by police at protests, the only way to guarantee the spread of knowledge is social media.
And, while we’re talking about that, I ask you to consider this: why would police attack the media unless they were doing something they didn’t want the public to see?
In this confusing, digital age, citizen journalism is just as important as anything the New York Times puts out.
Social media pushes the people’s voice to the forefront. It brings attention to issues people may not know about, and it offers a platform for people to discuss those issues. Right now, my Twitter feed is full of petitions, protest videos, and places to donate. It’s also full of resources where I can educate myself.
TikTok can be even more helpful, because it markets itself to a much younger demographic than Twitter. If real information is spread, it could help educate teenagers who may not know much beyond what schools and their parents teach them. It can offer, like Twitter does, resources.
Now, I’m not saying to trust, blindly, every post you see. Media literacy is important; questioning things is important. If you think something looks fishy, look into it. Do research. There’s a lot of untruth out there, and the only thing more dangerous than social media silencing people trying to educate, is social media refusing to silence people who spread false and/or dangerous information.
And remember, If a social media post makes you even just pause and reconsider your ingrained way of thinking, it’s doing more than most mainstream news sources. Use that. Learn from it.
Here is a link to a Carrd with Black Lives Matter resources. It includes a Google Doc full of petitions and resources as well as a link to the official Black Lives Matter website. Use it to learn to be better.
