Cosplayer Charles Conley suspects that trolls mass-reported his videos, trying to get them taken down.
Videos in which he called out racist posts would get flagged for “harassment and bullying” and removed, he said, while posts he criticized stayed up.
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At this point, Conley is ready to call it quits. “It’s so draining,” he said.
“Having an application … actively sabotaging you and not backing you up, or saying that you are the perpetrator of these transgressions or aggressions; it gets beyond tiring.” tiktok.com/@ebonywarriors…
Conley is not the first Black TikToker to say that he feels over-scrutinized and under-protected by the platform.
Since at least summer 2020, users of color have said that TikTok handles their accounts in ways which seem unfair and racially biased. latimes.com/business/techn…
What sets Conley and the other Black TikTokers who spoke to The Times for this story apart is what they plan to do about it: get off TikTok for good. latimes.com/business/techn…
Amid the racial justice protests that erupted in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, TikToks tagged with #BlackLivesMatter and #GeorgeFloyd seemed to be getting zero views.
But even months after the protests, Black creators continued to say that their videos were being taken down without explanation, listed lower than expected in search results and receiving far fewer views than usual. latimes.com/business/techn…
For each of the users the @latimes spoke with, the problem is rooted less in any singular moderation decision or technical gaffe than in a gradual accumulation of many different errors, happening over and over again. tiktok.com/@.theamazingde…
The bottom line for TikTok is clear: Black users are thinking about leaving.
Some are ramping up their presence on Instagram and YouTube.
“It’s super toxic, it’s racist, and we’re never going to be able to progress with this app," said Dea, a comedian with more than 200,000 TikTok followers.
Now, he's a comedy veteran — an Emmy-nominated writer, voice actor on such animated series as “BoJack Horseman” and arguably the king of comedy podcast guests.
Steve McQueen's “Small Axe,” which portrayed moving portraits of immigrant life and 20th century colonialism, was almost entirely snubbed by the #Emmys.
But the filmmaker is still determined to tell stories about "what gets swept under the carpet." latimes.com/entertainment-…
The intimate “Small Axe” weaves stories around Britain’s history of racism, the rigors of assimilation and the conflict that arises between immigrant parents and their English-born kids. latimes.com/entertainment-…
“Uprising,” McQueen’s new three-part documentary, continues to tell the tale of Britain’s marginalized, focusing on the events surrounding the 1981 New Cross Fire, in which 13 young Black people died at a house party when the building went up in flames. latimes.com/entertainment-…
Wrapped in fire-resistant aluminum, the Giant Forest trees in Sequoia National Park remained safe from the encroaching KNP Complex fire on Friday. latimes.com/california/sto…
While growth appeared to slow, the lightning-sparked fires that ignited a week ago — and so far have 11,365 acres — continued to burn with no containment.
“It’s moving pretty slow because normally it would have raced up that hill,” said Mark Garrett, spokesperson for the KNP Complex fire.