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In lieu of broader efforts to ensure greater diversity and representation on the platform, TikTok has launched its Black Creators program for 2021.
With the Black Lives Matter movement reaching a fever pitch of momentum in 2020, the biggest social media platforms are finally understanding the importance of providing all creators with equal opportunities online.
It’s with this goal in mind that TikTok is ramping up efforts to further invest in emerging Black creators and aspiring musicians. Through what TikTok has aptly dubbed the ‘Black Creatives’ program, we will reportedly see as many as 100 fresh faces popping up across the app’s Black community in the next few months. Ah, the sweet aroma of progress.
If you’ll cast your mind back, it was around this time last year that TikTok came under fire in the media for accusations of racial filtering, as users discovered that – inadvertently or not – the algorithm of the For You page had been recommending content created by people of the same race.
The negative press was then compounded in May when a growing sentiment that Black TikTok creators were being supressed led to an in-app protest known as the ‘Blackout.’
https://twitter.com/beIIaa_/status/1349478540475961344
To its credit though, in the time since, TikTok has gone above and beyond to push diversity as a central tenet of the platform.
Establishing a dedicated ‘diversity council’ in June, the most downloaded app of 2020 successively donated $3 million USD to Black Empowerment organisations, launched its viral #ShopBlack drive, and ran several high-profile campaigns to support Black artists and creators (Blackout Tuesday being the biggest success).
It’s the latter aspect of this multi-pronged push for inclusivity that the new Black Creatives program is looking to beef up in the coming months.
