Abstract
Social media platforms have become an integral part of our daily lives. The growing societal reliance on these social platforms calls for a greater understanding of how they impact and engage with people of color. TikTok's innovative use of recommendation algorithms has disrupted the social media industry. This Article exposes the harm people of color face on TikTok using Professor Anita L. Allen's "Black Opticon" framework. Further, it uncovers instances of discriminatory predation and exclusion on the platform and expands the framework to distinguish between discrimination platforms perpetuate actively (platform predation) and passively (private predation). Due to a lack of transparency surrounding algorithms, the full extent of the issue of discriminatory exclusion and predation on TikTok is not yet fully understood. However, the findings of possible harms presented in this Article serve as a warning to other social media platforms using recommendation algorithms.
Last Page
144
Recommended Citation
Melany Amarikwa,
Social Media Platforms' Reckoning: The Harmful Impact of TikTok's Algorithm on People of Color,
29
Rich. J.L. & Tech
69
(2024).
Available at:
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/jolt/vol29/iss3/2