TikTok User Calls Out Platform for Flagging ‘Black Lives Matter’ as “Inappropriate Content”

TikTok user @ziggityler is calling out the social media platform for its unfair treatment towards people of color.

Tyler recently shared a number of videos regarding his experience using the app’s Creator Marketplace, its self-dubbed “official platform for brand and creator collaborations.” In a series of screen recordings and demonstrations, Tyler showed TikTok audiences that he has consistently received an “inappropriate content” warning when he was using specific words and phrases in his bio. The videos show Tyler attempting to change his bio but words and phrases including “Black,” “Black Lives Matter,” “Black people,” “Black success” and “I am a Black man” appeared to be blocked on TikTok.

Tyler continued to test the extent of the words that would trigger an “inappropriate content” warning. He realized that phrases such as “pro-white,” “supporting supremacy,” “neo-Nazi” and “anti-Semitic” were allowed to be utilized in the bio and proceed forward within the Creator Marketplace system. In one of the videos, viewers can hear Tyler express his disdain stating, “White people can get on here and call me the n-word and make videos about violent extremism but I can’t do anything. We can’t do anything.”

This issue comes shortly after many Black TikTok creators criticized the platform’s lack of credit towards the Black community for viral dance trends. The app faced scrutiny last year during the anti-police brutality protests as well.