Latest / Stuff Mom Never Told You / Why are Black TikTokers On Strike?

Transcript

Why are Black TikTokers On Strike? · Stuff Mom Never Told You

0:05
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to stuff
0:07
Speaker 1: I've never told your production of Art Radio. Today, we
0:19
Speaker 1: are once again joined by our good friend and colleague,
0:22
Speaker 1: Bridget Todd. We're so excited to have you as always, Bridget.
0:26
Speaker 1: I love hanging out with you all. This is one
0:28
Speaker 1: of my favorite things to do to start my weekend.
0:30
Speaker 1: So excited because we do normally record these on Fridays.
0:34
Speaker 1: You're right, Oh, yeah, it's Fridays or Monday, so yeah, uh,
0:39
Speaker 1: nice bookends, nice bookings. No, it's one of our very
0:42
Speaker 1: very favorite things as well. And we're both Samantha and
0:46
Speaker 1: I are both very excited with the topic you chose
0:48
Speaker 1: because we've been talking about it lately. So yeah, let's
0:53
Speaker 1: dive right in. What topic did you bring for us today, Bridget? So,
0:58
Speaker 1: I'm super excited to talk about my new favorite social
1:01
Speaker 1: media platform. I'm gonna call it my new problematic faith,
1:05
Speaker 1: and that is TikTok. I have to ask, are y'all
1:07
Speaker 1: on TikTok both like a pause? I am not, but
1:13
Speaker 1: I have a good friend shout out Marissa, who is
1:17
Speaker 1: very active on it, and she sends me TikTok's that
1:20
Speaker 1: she thinks I will enjoy, which I will be honest
1:24
Speaker 1: are mostly very nerdy. TikTok's like cosplay related a lot
1:30
Speaker 1: of like Star Wars and Marvel stuff, So that is
1:33
Speaker 1: my experience, but I am not officially on it no, right,
1:37
Speaker 1: so I am not either even from the jump, like
1:39
Speaker 1: I was like, I'm too old for this. I can't
1:41
Speaker 1: I can't be on this. I'm way too old for this.
1:43
Speaker 1: So the shame of that alone made me not want
1:47
Speaker 1: to be on it. However, I also get sent TikTok's.
1:51
Speaker 1: I love hip hop so uh, and I love short
1:54
Speaker 1: clips of anything entertaining, and I love dog videos, which
1:58
Speaker 1: feels like what is TikTok in general? So the things
2:02
Speaker 1: that I follow on the other social media is always
2:05
Speaker 1: post them up, so I feel like I'm part of
2:06
Speaker 1: it without having to be a part of it. But
2:09
Speaker 1: as a person who is involved in social media for
2:12
Speaker 1: our show, which I suck at it, sorry, y'all, I
2:15
Speaker 1: feel like we may have to traverse towards that area
2:18
Speaker 1: because I'm like, I think we're gonna have to be
2:20
Speaker 1: a part of this to stay real of itt y'all. Yes,
2:23
Speaker 1: TikTok is it's if you like nerdy things, so like
2:26
Speaker 1: Marvel Cinematic Universe, cosplay, D and D. If you like
2:29
Speaker 1: hip hop, if you like animal videos, dance videos, it
2:33
Speaker 1: is the place to be. And I kind of feel,
2:35
Speaker 1: you know, I kind of came to it late to
2:37
Speaker 1: the game, but for a while I felt just like
2:40
Speaker 1: you feel, Sam, where I was like, I am too
2:42
Speaker 1: old for this. I thought it was an app for
2:43
Speaker 1: the for the youth, and I'm not totally wrong. The
2:46
Speaker 1: data doesn't bear that out that it is. It's a
2:47
Speaker 1: very it is. Most of people on there are younger,
2:50
Speaker 1: but you know, there's something about it that I really love, right,
2:54
Speaker 1: So I used to be obsessed with that app that
2:56
Speaker 1: is no longer a thing. Vine, which was kind of
2:58
Speaker 1: similar to tick too r I p. Vine is my
3:01
Speaker 1: favorite social media platform. But through my work with Ultra Violet,
3:04
Speaker 1: we've been meeting with TikTok to you know, work with
3:07
Speaker 1: them on their policies to make sure that it's a
3:09
Speaker 1: safe and inclusive space for everybody. And when we started
3:11
Speaker 1: those conversations with leadership at TikTok, I was like, well,
3:14
Speaker 1: I should probably probably start using it, and y'all, I
3:18
Speaker 1: became obsessed so quickly, Like I went from being like, oh,
3:21
Speaker 1: I'm too old for this. You'll never find me, you know,
3:24
Speaker 1: looking at I'll never be someone who enjoys TikTok too.
3:28
Speaker 1: I can be on my phone scrolling for hours and
3:30
Speaker 1: just be having the best time. So definitely I feel
3:34
Speaker 1: you do you have you dabbled in like making videos?
3:37
Speaker 1: I have made one. It's about my cat. I'm I
3:42
Speaker 1: want to build up the confidence to be the kind
3:44
Speaker 1: of person who was like making videos of themselves. Also,
3:48
Speaker 1: I think it really lends itself to, you know, as podcasters.
3:51
Speaker 1: I think it really lends itself to bite size chunks
3:54
Speaker 1: of information. Was like, um, I think it could be
3:56
Speaker 1: a really useful tool for people who do podcasts. But no,
4:00
Speaker 1: I haven't really I've made that one with my cat. So, Mike, Mike,
4:03
Speaker 1: maybe my cat will be the TikTok star and I'll
4:05
Speaker 1: this be you know her stage mom. Yes, yes, yeah,
4:10
Speaker 1: that could be my thing. I'll do that with my
4:12
Speaker 1: dog and just be like here you go, it's only
4:14
Speaker 1: dog and she's just giving you side ie the entire time. Truly,
4:18
Speaker 1: there are TikTok accounts that have millions of followers where
4:21
Speaker 1: it's just that like it's like, oh, my dog makes
4:23
Speaker 1: this funny face and people love it. They cannot get enough.
4:26
Speaker 1: I'm one of those people. Yes, I think this is
4:29
Speaker 1: a path for success for both of you. So for
4:36
Speaker 1: the uninitiated, can you explain what TikTok is? Yes, So
4:40
Speaker 1: if you're someone who has never heard of this, right,
4:44
Speaker 1: but you've heard someone in your life talk about it,
4:45
Speaker 1: or maybe somebody in your life is your TikTok corse
4:47
Speaker 1: bomb that it just sends you funny videos that you
4:49
Speaker 1: think that that they think you'll like. TikTok lets you
4:52
Speaker 1: upload sixty second videos to music. So it's a social
4:55
Speaker 1: media app. And how it kind of started was it
4:58
Speaker 1: was an international version of an app I think I
5:00
Speaker 1: might say this wrong at Doyan, which was originally released
5:04
Speaker 1: in the Chinese market in September um. It launched in
5:07
Speaker 1: seventeen for iOS and then for Android and most markets
5:11
Speaker 1: outside of mainland China. However, it only became available worldwide
5:14
Speaker 1: after merging with another Chinese social media service called Musically
5:18
Speaker 1: in augusten. So I was kind of familiar with Musically,
5:21
Speaker 1: like it wasn't it wasn't something I used, but I
5:23
Speaker 1: was aware of its existence and it wasn't really like
5:26
Speaker 1: a big thing until it merged or or with merged
5:29
Speaker 1: with TikTok and became TikTok. And TikTok is huge right now.
5:34
Speaker 1: It has six eighty nine million users internationally, and it
5:38
Speaker 1: makes it the seventh largest platform in terms of users,
5:40
Speaker 1: ahead of other platforms that have been around for much longer,
5:43
Speaker 1: like Snapchat, Pinterest, in Twitter. And I really feel like
5:46
Speaker 1: one of the reasons why people are like flooding to
5:49
Speaker 1: TikTok right now is that, you know, I I like Instagram,
5:53
Speaker 1: but I do feel like there can be pressure to
5:56
Speaker 1: be sort of a per like an airbrushed, perfect polished
6:01
Speaker 1: version of your best self. And I think for a
6:04
Speaker 1: while that was kind of okay, but nobody wants a
6:08
Speaker 1: steady diet of people's fake perfection. And I think that
6:12
Speaker 1: people are just looking for a different vibe in their
6:14
Speaker 1: social media experience. And I think that TikTok TikTok is
6:17
Speaker 1: where you go to be kind of like goofy or
6:20
Speaker 1: creative or clever or weird um. And so I think
6:23
Speaker 1: that people are just like, especially during the pandemic, like
6:25
Speaker 1: nobody wants to see someone's airbrushed, you know, air brushed
6:30
Speaker 1: the greatest hits real when you're going through a hard
6:33
Speaker 1: time because of a global pandemic, right right. I think
6:39
Speaker 1: I was looking through my camera reel of like the
6:41
Speaker 1: year of the pandemic, and I took like four pictures
6:45
Speaker 1: and it's like my shoshido plant plants and animals, I
6:50
Speaker 1: believe um. And for a minute, TikTok like had the
6:53
Speaker 1: whole versus Trump administration at one point. That's right, Trump
6:58
Speaker 1: was threatening. It's what never actually shook out. Trump was
7:01
Speaker 1: threatening to band TikTok because he wanted the company that
7:05
Speaker 1: owned it to sell it. They called his bluff, and
7:08
Speaker 1: so TikTok is currently not banned, But for a while,
7:11
Speaker 1: I think it was TikTok and we Chat. He was
7:13
Speaker 1: trying to get them both banned and was unsuccessful. I
7:18
Speaker 1: remember it was so weird because it was that time,
7:20
Speaker 1: and I had people around me be like, go ahead
7:22
Speaker 1: and downloaded. It's about to be banned. It's about to
7:23
Speaker 1: be banned. I feel like they didn't up search. But
7:26
Speaker 1: then on top of that, at me, who loves to
7:29
Speaker 1: play games on my phone, that's how I do it.
7:31
Speaker 1: All of the little ads ended up being TikTok, and
7:33
Speaker 1: I was like, wait, what's happening I'm getting over inundated
7:36
Speaker 1: with TikTok ads, and I'm like, are they pushing just
7:38
Speaker 1: to get everybody downloaded before gets banned? Is that what's happening.
7:42
Speaker 1: I was like, les's smart, very smart. I did the
7:45
Speaker 1: exact same thing, right. I downloaded TikTok onto my phone
7:49
Speaker 1: and never opened it when that was going on, just
7:51
Speaker 1: because I was like, well, I want the option to
7:53
Speaker 1: have it in case it does get banned, you know,
7:54
Speaker 1: And I downloaded it never used it until much later.
7:57
Speaker 1: But I wonder that that must have had an impact
8:00
Speaker 1: on the number of downloads. Oh yeah. I remember YouTube
8:05
Speaker 1: ads that were like, hey, TikTok is gonna be out,
8:08
Speaker 1: you won't be able to get it, Go download it
8:10
Speaker 1: right now, and it was like, this is so bizarre. Yeah.
8:14
Speaker 1: Times very smart, very smart. So earlier you were saying
8:19
Speaker 1: Sam that you felt like it was you were a
8:22
Speaker 1: little too old for TikTok. Uh. If you think it's
8:24
Speaker 1: an app for young people, you're not totally wrong. TikTok
8:27
Speaker 1: is popular among the younger generations. The majority of its
8:30
Speaker 1: users are under the age of thirty. Of US adults
8:33
Speaker 1: between the ages of eighteen and twenty nine have TikTok
8:36
Speaker 1: forty nine year old and fourteen are people aged sixty
8:39
Speaker 1: five and up, so there are some older folks on there,
8:42
Speaker 1: Like I follow a lot when I see older folks
8:46
Speaker 1: making content on TikTok. That is an instant follow for
8:48
Speaker 1: me because I'm like, oh, I like that you saw
8:51
Speaker 1: this app that is hella popular with the youth, and
8:53
Speaker 1: you were like, oh, I'm gonna get in there and
8:55
Speaker 1: make my voice turn too. So there. I don't want
8:57
Speaker 1: to make it seem like there are not older folks
8:59
Speaker 1: on there. They debit on we Are, but it is
9:01
Speaker 1: an app that is very popular with young people, yes,
9:04
Speaker 1: and that is the that is kind of the for
9:08
Speaker 1: people who aren't on it, that is kind of the
9:09
Speaker 1: feel of it. And you know, to be clear, for me,
9:12
Speaker 1: like I think I would totally be into it. I
9:15
Speaker 1: know that some people get really judgmental of like, oh
9:18
Speaker 1: the youths in their TikTok. That's not me at all.
9:21
Speaker 1: Like I feel like every generation does that and it's
9:23
Speaker 1: always ridiculous because you did the same thing when you're younger. Absolutely, Yeah,
9:29
Speaker 1: for me, it's not so much like, oh, I'm judging
9:31
Speaker 1: that youth this more like I feel like a creeper
9:37
Speaker 1: the young see, and I also feel like wol I
9:41
Speaker 1: scroll TikTok. The number one feeling that I have is like,
9:44
Speaker 1: young people are so freaking creative, They're so funny, they're
9:48
Speaker 1: so weird. They are like, you know, there's entire TikTok's
9:52
Speaker 1: where it's young retail workers breaking down like how much
9:56
Speaker 1: they hate capitalism, or you know, young door enthusias. Like
10:01
Speaker 1: it's like, young people are amazing, and TikTok, hopefully in
10:05
Speaker 1: a non creepy way, is my window into all the
10:07
Speaker 1: amazing things they're doing, all the amazing things they're thinking.
10:11
Speaker 1: So but yeah, I definitely feel the same way. And um,
10:14
Speaker 1: I think the one thing that TikTok seems to have
10:16
Speaker 1: that I haven't seen it used in any other app
10:19
Speaker 1: is the duet stuff, right, so the two features they have.
10:23
Speaker 1: So if you see a TikTok and you're like I
10:24
Speaker 1: want to respond to that, you can do wet it
10:26
Speaker 1: and so that makes that your whatever you're gonna do,
10:28
Speaker 1: like your TikTok will be alongside and a side by
10:32
Speaker 1: side with the TikTok that you're duetting. And again that
10:34
Speaker 1: technology is super cool. I've seen people use that in
10:37
Speaker 1: such creative ways where they can like riff off of
10:39
Speaker 1: different videos and you can do it multiple videos, and
10:42
Speaker 1: people use that to create these really layered experiences. Like
10:47
Speaker 1: people are very creative on the app. Like I was
10:51
Speaker 1: in a meeting with one of the senior staffers at
10:54
Speaker 1: TikTok and she said that if you get your news
10:57
Speaker 1: from Twitter, and you think of like Twitter as like
10:59
Speaker 1: a news aggory eating place, they want TikTok to feel
11:02
Speaker 1: like short form Netflix, which I thought was so interesting
11:04
Speaker 1: because that's exactly how I use it. The same way
11:06
Speaker 1: that I kind of mindlessly consume Netflix shows, I will
11:10
Speaker 1: definitely mindlessly scroll and consume TikTok content as well. No
11:14
Speaker 1: take me onto this ever, see me again. I'm watching
11:19
Speaker 1: TikTok videos right. And these features have made it or
11:25
Speaker 1: at least part of the reason why it is super popular,
11:28
Speaker 1: and it's not something that's going down correct this popularity, Oh,
11:33
Speaker 1: it is surging in a popularity. In April, it had
11:36
Speaker 1: been downloaded more than two billion times worldwide on both
11:38
Speaker 1: the Apple App Store and Google Play and other words,
11:41
Speaker 1: it was able to double its number of downloads in
11:43
Speaker 1: just one year, and that's a pretty big sign that
11:45
Speaker 1: this is a skyrocketing app, and I really do have
11:47
Speaker 1: to say that, like I think it was the pandemic.
11:50
Speaker 1: I think it was fatigue from other platforms. And I
11:53
Speaker 1: want to be clear, I'm not I'm talking about how
11:56
Speaker 1: much I enjoy TikTok. I am not saying that, like
11:58
Speaker 1: TikTok is not without a whole host of its own problems.
12:01
Speaker 1: A lot of the creators have been open about sort
12:04
Speaker 1: of like the fatigue of feeling like you have to
12:06
Speaker 1: kind of you know, appeas this algorithm all the time,
12:10
Speaker 1: and like it's it's not a place that's not without
12:12
Speaker 1: its issues, like any social media platform, but it does
12:14
Speaker 1: seem to be that people are abandoning places like Twitter, Facebook,
12:19
Speaker 1: Instagram for TikTok. And I think you also see marketers
12:24
Speaker 1: doing this, Like I'm seeing more and more brands that
12:26
Speaker 1: otherwise you'd see on places like Instagram really doubling down
12:30
Speaker 1: on TikTok as a place to you know, reach their
12:33
Speaker 1: audiences and reach other people, particularly things like fashion. You know,
12:38
Speaker 1: I cannot tell you how many things I have bought
12:40
Speaker 1: because I saw it on TikTok and it looked cool.
12:42
Speaker 1: Like it really is a platform that I think more
12:44
Speaker 1: and more businesses, brands, marketers are looking at because it's
12:48
Speaker 1: getting so popular. We know the influencers have pretty uh
13:04
Speaker 1: much infiltrated most of Instagram, But when it comes to TikTok,
13:08
Speaker 1: do they have the same sponsorship level. I would say
13:11
Speaker 1: that's a great question. I would say not yet. But
13:13
Speaker 1: it's I think it's heading in that direction, right, And
13:16
Speaker 1: I think that's another reason why Instagram this is not
13:18
Speaker 1: as fun to me anymore. It's like you, I feel
13:21
Speaker 1: like everything there can can kind of feel like marketing,
13:24
Speaker 1: Like it doesn't feel authentic, as authentic as it once did.
13:27
Speaker 1: And I'm older, so I remember when Instagram first started,
13:31
Speaker 1: and it will be totally normal to take the most mundane,
13:35
Speaker 1: sad looking at pictures because it just like was it.
13:38
Speaker 1: We had not yet, we had not yet turned it
13:40
Speaker 1: into a place to be like, here's a very polished
13:42
Speaker 1: picture of me, also by this product that I maybe
13:45
Speaker 1: don't use, you know, like we weren't there yet. And
13:47
Speaker 1: so I see TikTok influencers and I see the I
13:51
Speaker 1: definitely see like sponsored TikTok stuff from influencers. I don't
13:55
Speaker 1: think it's to the level of Instagram yet, but I
13:57
Speaker 1: do think it's definitely could be to that level. I
14:00
Speaker 1: see it growing exponentially, right and with that, because we
14:03
Speaker 1: know a lot of stars were created through things like YouTube.
14:06
Speaker 1: So people that I still don't know who they are
14:09
Speaker 1: and their names are popping up like where did they
14:10
Speaker 1: come from? And realize, oh, the YouTube stars. Is TikTok
14:13
Speaker 1: creating that same type of platform and level for these
14:16
Speaker 1: young kids exactly? So there have been folks who basically
14:20
Speaker 1: build their platforms on TikTok. So people like Addison Ray,
14:24
Speaker 1: Charlie Demilio. These are people who first got really popular
14:27
Speaker 1: on TikTok, and through that popularity, they've been able to
14:30
Speaker 1: parlay that TikTok success off the app, and so you know,
14:34
Speaker 1: they get TV show deals or podcast deals and so
14:37
Speaker 1: you really can see people building up their brands, building
14:41
Speaker 1: up their platforms through TikTok. And so people that you're like,
14:44
Speaker 1: who is this person? Why do I keep hearing about this?
14:47
Speaker 1: You know this this person, like they're famous? Who are they?
14:49
Speaker 1: Maybe they're TikTokers and like maybe they're maybe they're famous
14:52
Speaker 1: to an entire generation of people you know that you
14:54
Speaker 1: might not know about. So, but you know, with that
14:57
Speaker 1: kind of platform comes big business, right, So, like I
15:01
Speaker 1: know you might people might be listening and thinking, like,
15:03
Speaker 1: what's the big deal? You know, like like who cares
15:07
Speaker 1: who gets famous on TikTok? Who cares who gets credited
15:09
Speaker 1: on TikTok. When you're talking about a platform as big
15:13
Speaker 1: as TikTok, that's gonna mean you know, brand deals, that's
15:17
Speaker 1: gonna mean marketing opportunities, all of that. And so it
15:20
Speaker 1: really does matter when we talk about platforms like TikTok,
15:24
Speaker 1: who gets credit and who doesn't. And that's really where
15:26
Speaker 1: it becomes an issue because right now, an entire host
15:29
Speaker 1: of black women on TikTok are to use their words
15:33
Speaker 1: on strike. They say that TikTok is really fueled by
15:37
Speaker 1: young black women creators, and yet those same creators do
15:40
Speaker 1: not often get the credits that they feel they deserve
15:43
Speaker 1: for really being the lifeblood of this app. And so
15:45
Speaker 1: black women TikTok ers are currently on strike. It's resulted
15:51
Speaker 1: in some very very interesting stuff on the app. I'm
15:54
Speaker 1: not gonna lie, that's one of my favorite things to
15:57
Speaker 1: watch right now. And again it's all the on Twitter,
15:59
Speaker 1: so I'm seeing things like by secondhand, third hand. At
16:03
Speaker 1: this point, it was interesting to see what is happening,
16:06
Speaker 1: because all I know is there's a lot of dancing
16:09
Speaker 1: on hip hop. There's a random girl who got a
16:11
Speaker 1: big shout out on a late night show, and then
16:15
Speaker 1: you turn around and you realize this has no spice
16:19
Speaker 1: to it, like like I'm watching bland dancing as like
16:23
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. That's how I was, like,
16:25
Speaker 1: why do I feel like I'm just chewing on raw
16:28
Speaker 1: mashed potatoes with nothing inside? Like nothing, yeah, And that's
16:36
Speaker 1: what I was wondering. I was like, what is happening?
16:38
Speaker 1: And as you said that, like there's this whole thing
16:41
Speaker 1: going on with the fact that they finally like, you
16:42
Speaker 1: know what, we're tired. We're tired of handing this over
16:45
Speaker 1: and getting a minute level of any type of credit.
16:48
Speaker 1: And that's only when they are called out for stealing
16:51
Speaker 1: for stealing content. But I guess the other question to
16:54
Speaker 1: that is can you truly steal content on platforms like this?
16:57
Speaker 1: That's such an interesting conversation, right, I mean, and it's
17:01
Speaker 1: it's almost kind of like an Internet philosophical conversation. I
17:05
Speaker 1: would say, you know, the Internet is a is an
17:09
Speaker 1: ephemeral place, and it's like when you ask questions of
17:12
Speaker 1: like can anyone really own ideas on the Internet, or
17:16
Speaker 1: like a dance come the Internet, or a meme or
17:18
Speaker 1: a saying that started on the Internet. I understand that
17:21
Speaker 1: the Internet is ephemeral and that part of what makes
17:23
Speaker 1: the Internet so fun is people ripping off of each other,
17:28
Speaker 1: the way that things get kind of passed down and
17:30
Speaker 1: sort of become that game of telephone where you do
17:32
Speaker 1: a dance, you put your own spin on it, that
17:34
Speaker 1: it becomes this and it becomes that. That's what I
17:36
Speaker 1: love about the Internet. However, I also think that there
17:41
Speaker 1: has to be a way to preserve that spirit of
17:44
Speaker 1: what makes the Internet such a fun place to spend time,
17:47
Speaker 1: while also making sure that people are not getting screwed
17:49
Speaker 1: out of credit and the success that they should come
17:52
Speaker 1: along with that. And I think that we have seen
17:54
Speaker 1: time and time again where black women, black creators, often
17:58
Speaker 1: as very young creators, will make some thing and then
18:00
Speaker 1: people will just assume that that thing that they have
18:03
Speaker 1: made kind of belongs to everyone. It's like public domain
18:06
Speaker 1: of the Internet, and so you know, people will popularize
18:11
Speaker 1: the saying or popularize a dance, and next thing you know,
18:13
Speaker 1: it's on a taco bell ads being used to sell
18:16
Speaker 1: things and they're not getting any of the credit, right,
18:19
Speaker 1: And so I think that's the conversation we really need
18:21
Speaker 1: to have, is what are the ways in which already
18:25
Speaker 1: marginalized creators are being sort of set up to have
18:29
Speaker 1: everybody capitalized off of their creations except for them. And
18:32
Speaker 1: it really does matter kind of who gets credit on
18:35
Speaker 1: the Internet. There have been so many Internet people who
18:38
Speaker 1: have gotten famous from starting something on the Internet. Well
18:40
Speaker 1: that's changed their life. A girl trying kombucha where she
18:43
Speaker 1: takes a sip and she's like, no, kind of gross,
18:46
Speaker 1: and then another sip and she's like, well, kind of good.
18:48
Speaker 1: You know. She she was credited by name for that,
18:51
Speaker 1: and they put her in a Super Bowl commercial and
18:53
Speaker 1: she made a lot of money from it. So this
18:55
Speaker 1: really can change lives. And for instance, you know, seeing
18:59
Speaker 1: the situation that you were talking about earlier with Jimmy Fallon,
19:02
Speaker 1: sort of break that down. Basically. Addison Ray is this
19:06
Speaker 1: very famous TikToker. She was invited on the Jimmy Fallon
19:09
Speaker 1: show too for this like little skit where she was
19:13
Speaker 1: gonna be teaching Jimmy Fallon these different dances that are
19:16
Speaker 1: popular on TikTok while Jimmy Fallon in the background held
19:19
Speaker 1: up the sign saying, you know what the dance was called?
19:22
Speaker 1: And if you I mean it was a cute skit,
19:24
Speaker 1: but like you would think that Addison Ray had come
19:28
Speaker 1: up with those dances herself. They never bought like, they
19:30
Speaker 1: didn't put on the card with the name of the dance.
19:33
Speaker 1: Who created them? Right? And it wasn't until social media
19:36
Speaker 1: outcry of people being like whoa, why are you erasing
19:40
Speaker 1: the black youth and the black women who created these
19:42
Speaker 1: dances but spotlighting Addison Ray who did not create them,
19:45
Speaker 1: who was just doing them and maybe doing them not
19:48
Speaker 1: as well as the as the original people might have
19:50
Speaker 1: done them. You know why, Like why are you doing this?
19:53
Speaker 1: And to the Fallon Show's credit, they said that when
19:55
Speaker 1: they uploaded the clip to YouTube, they did include the
19:58
Speaker 1: dancers names and eventually, after all of this outcry, he
20:03
Speaker 1: invited the dancers themselves back for a segment, which is good,
20:06
Speaker 1: but again like why should the people who created these
20:09
Speaker 1: things the afterthoughts while Addison Ray is given the spotlight.
20:13
Speaker 1: I think it really does call into question, you know,
20:16
Speaker 1: who is allowed to capitalize and a profit on their
20:18
Speaker 1: own creations on the internet, right? I think that it
20:21
Speaker 1: comes to another question in that because we've seen it
20:25
Speaker 1: time and time again, we're hearing it constantly for at
20:28
Speaker 1: least the blive of how many times these influencers actually
20:31
Speaker 1: still creative content, whether it's actual dresses or costumes or
20:37
Speaker 1: hairstyles that really will affect them in their profession. And
20:41
Speaker 1: it's kind of in that same way Addison Ray, who
20:43
Speaker 1: I have really no clue who she is outside of
20:46
Speaker 1: I saw that whole debacle and by people are like,
20:48
Speaker 1: what is going on to the point and then having
20:51
Speaker 1: a side by side like these are the creators who,
20:53
Speaker 1: by the way, do it so much better. This looks
20:57
Speaker 1: completely different And how do you not see that side
21:00
Speaker 1: by side? You wouldn't You wouldn't realize it's the same dance. Sorry,
21:04
Speaker 1: I laughed because I was like, what that's that she's doing? That? Okay? Cool.
21:07
Speaker 1: Don't get me wrong, she has a beat. I have
21:10
Speaker 1: no claims on that, but it seems to be a constant,
21:13
Speaker 1: constant thing where obviously something's being taken from someone that's
21:19
Speaker 1: not actually there's and that's not never been there's. So
21:22
Speaker 1: you see, the Kardashians is one of the number one
21:25
Speaker 1: people who do these this often where they constantly still
21:29
Speaker 1: ideas from another creator taking money away from them, of
21:32
Speaker 1: selling it and then making all this money, and even
21:35
Speaker 1: when they're called out, even when they're soon, they still
21:37
Speaker 1: don't stop it keeps going. Who truly obviously the people
21:41
Speaker 1: who yes, stole it. But how do we truly stop
21:44
Speaker 1: this from happening? Because I know that that seems to
21:47
Speaker 1: be problematic on every platform, and no one seems to
21:50
Speaker 1: care enough to stop that. Absolutely, and I completely agree
21:54
Speaker 1: with you. We see it time and time again. I
21:57
Speaker 1: actually think that like cross cultural borrowing is okay, but
22:02
Speaker 1: there's a right and a wrong way to do it.
22:03
Speaker 1: If you're if you're profiting off of someone else's ideas,
22:06
Speaker 1: someone else has labor, someone else's talent, and then not
22:09
Speaker 1: shouting them out, not trying to give them a platform
22:12
Speaker 1: as well. That's where I really have a problem. I've
22:15
Speaker 1: seen so many people do it wrong, but we also
22:19
Speaker 1: never talked about the people who do it right, you know.
22:21
Speaker 1: So one example of someone who I think really did
22:24
Speaker 1: it right was Natasha Beddingfield. You'll might remember her. She
22:27
Speaker 1: did the themes on the Hills Unwritten well on TikTok,
22:32
Speaker 1: a TikToker who goes by Rony Boy. He popularized this
22:36
Speaker 1: really cool dance where you go in public and dance
22:39
Speaker 1: to a version of that song unwritten, and it was
22:42
Speaker 1: amazing and then and it's like a completely like viral dance.
22:45
Speaker 1: Like I once saw somebody doing it at the mall
22:47
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh my god, they're doing the
22:48
Speaker 1: TikTok dance. My friend was like, I have no idea
22:50
Speaker 1: what you're talking about. So it's a hugely popular. And
22:53
Speaker 1: Natasha bedding Field put out a TikTok where she had
22:57
Speaker 1: invited Ronny Boy to come dance with her and they
23:00
Speaker 1: were like she was singing the song and he was
23:02
Speaker 1: doing the dance, and she was like, oh, shout out
23:04
Speaker 1: to Roney Boy for you know, making this great dance
23:07
Speaker 1: to my song, and like it was really joyous and
23:10
Speaker 1: really cool. Nobody would say like, oh, Natasha Beddingfield is
23:14
Speaker 1: trying to cannibalize this dance. That they came up was
23:17
Speaker 1: because she shared her platform with them and gave them
23:20
Speaker 1: proper credit. And it was like a beautiful kind of
23:22
Speaker 1: cross cultural moment that I love and think everybody loved it,
23:27
Speaker 1: and so I think there are ways to do it well,
23:30
Speaker 1: there are ways to be like, yo, I love this culture.
23:33
Speaker 1: Shout out to this culture, like this is like where
23:35
Speaker 1: I got this. You know, this is the person who
23:38
Speaker 1: designed this. Like I love the new vibe of like
23:41
Speaker 1: sharing credit where credit is due. When I see celebrities
23:44
Speaker 1: who will have a photo shoot or something, when they
23:47
Speaker 1: tag the hairstylist, that makeup artists, the person who wrote
23:49
Speaker 1: the article, the person who took the photographs. That's so
23:52
Speaker 1: much better than trying to pretend like, oh, this is
23:55
Speaker 1: just me. Whenever you see anything online, so many hands,
23:59
Speaker 1: so much talent, so much creative labor went into the
24:02
Speaker 1: thing that you're seeing, and I think it's important that
24:04
Speaker 1: we shout that out and like not try to obscure
24:06
Speaker 1: it and make it look like this is just one person,
24:09
Speaker 1: but really sharing this, sharing the spotlight a little bit.
24:12
Speaker 1: So I do think there are ways to do it right,
24:15
Speaker 1: but I think that it takes a little bit of
24:18
Speaker 1: intentionality and a little bit of like humbleness to do that.
24:22
Speaker 1: I think that like what we need to be seeing
24:25
Speaker 1: is people being more intentional about how they participate in
24:29
Speaker 1: like cross cultural collaboration or whatever you wanna call it,
24:31
Speaker 1: so that it doesn't turn into cultural appropriation. So it
24:34
Speaker 1: doesn't turn into people feeling like their culture is just
24:37
Speaker 1: being picked over and stolen from like a freaking garage
24:40
Speaker 1: sale for somebody else to to profit off of. You know. Yeah, yeah,
24:45
Speaker 1: I think that's a that's a great point, and that's
24:47
Speaker 1: something I feel like we've seen play out on social
24:51
Speaker 1: media and like all platforms. And then I'm glad it's
24:53
Speaker 1: moving towards the way you're saying, Bridget, But like I've
24:55
Speaker 1: been guilty of seeing something and I'm like, oh, that's cool.
24:57
Speaker 1: I'll take a picture and I post it and I
25:00
Speaker 1: don't know, like a piece of art or something, and
25:02
Speaker 1: I didn't go out of my way to find out
25:04
Speaker 1: like who did it or the draw like the history
25:06
Speaker 1: behind it. And I think that's an important part of
25:08
Speaker 1: it too, is you should keep in mind not only
25:11
Speaker 1: crediting people, but for all you know, there could be
25:13
Speaker 1: a really dark history behind whatever you just posted. So
25:17
Speaker 1: I think that is absolutely the way that it should be,
25:21
Speaker 1: and I hope that it's moving more towards that. Has
25:24
Speaker 1: TikTok had a response to all of this, that's a
25:29
Speaker 1: great question. So early on, TikTok was accused of suppressing
25:33
Speaker 1: content by creators of color, particularly for dance. In searches
25:36
Speaker 1: for viral dance made by black users, for example, the
25:39
Speaker 1: algorithm often prioritized white creators copies of those dances as
25:43
Speaker 1: opposed to the actual like black creator who made it.
25:46
Speaker 1: And this is according to a report from NBC News.
25:48
Speaker 1: At TikTok actually apologized and vowed to do better and
25:52
Speaker 1: do better job of supporting creators of color and making
25:54
Speaker 1: it a more inclusive environment. But a lot of this
25:57
Speaker 1: creators say that not much has changed from them issuing
26:00
Speaker 1: that apology, and I think that's really why you're seeing
26:03
Speaker 1: these black women dance. TikTok ER's going on strike right now.
26:08
Speaker 1: I think that people are really fed up, and I
26:10
Speaker 1: think that people really don't want to contribute to an
26:13
Speaker 1: internet culture or a platform culture where they can be
26:17
Speaker 1: erased so easily when their talent is the is like
26:20
Speaker 1: the lifeblood of the app, right and like you said earlier,
26:24
Speaker 1: some people like this is their livelihood and they can
26:27
Speaker 1: become huge. They can get a Super Bowl commercial, for instance,
26:30
Speaker 1: through this. So you have a few examples you brought totally.
26:35
Speaker 1: So a good one, I think is the Renegade Dance Challenge.
26:38
Speaker 1: And so basically this TikTok er Charlie Demilio. Somebody called
26:42
Speaker 1: her the CEO of the Renegade Dance Challenge, right, like,
26:45
Speaker 1: because she made this video of her doing the Renegade
26:47
Speaker 1: dance to the song Renegade, she skyrocketed in popularity and
26:51
Speaker 1: basically became like a low key internet celebrity. Well, the
26:55
Speaker 1: dance was actually created by a fourteen year old black
26:57
Speaker 1: girl named Jalila Harmon. And because even though Jalila was
27:01
Speaker 1: the person who created this dance, Charlie a white woman,
27:05
Speaker 1: she was the one who skyrocketed in popularity and people
27:09
Speaker 1: would talk about her as if she created this dance,
27:11
Speaker 1: like she was invited on television shows. This dance was
27:13
Speaker 1: on Good Morning America and all of that, and very
27:16
Speaker 1: few people actually mentioned that, like this dance was created
27:20
Speaker 1: not by this person who got so successful off of it,
27:22
Speaker 1: but off of a child. And it took people on
27:25
Speaker 1: social media being like this was created by Jelila, not Charlie.
27:29
Speaker 1: And this really amazing New York Times profile written by
27:32
Speaker 1: Tayler Lawrenz, which you should definitely read it. It's so interesting.
27:35
Speaker 1: But those two things that New York Times profile and
27:38
Speaker 1: just people, you know, making noise on social media. That's
27:41
Speaker 1: the only reason why Jalila was given eventually sort of
27:45
Speaker 1: like given widespread recognition. But by then the renegade dance
27:48
Speaker 1: trend had kind of died out. It was sort of over.
27:51
Speaker 1: And the star who came out of it, the person
27:53
Speaker 1: who came out of it with the ability to get
27:55
Speaker 1: like deals and podcasts and TV shows, was Charlie, not
28:00
Speaker 1: the fourteen year old creator. Right, And so we have
28:02
Speaker 1: to ask what kind of internet climate we're contributing to
28:07
Speaker 1: when the person who creates the thing doesn't become the
28:11
Speaker 1: breakout star, the person who copied the person who created
28:15
Speaker 1: the thing does. And on top of that, which, by
28:18
Speaker 1: the way, shout out to Julia Harmon, who is an
28:21
Speaker 1: Atlanta native and she she teaches at the studio that
28:25
Speaker 1: I used to do zoomba at, and I'm very intimidated
28:28
Speaker 1: by because they're all amazing, just like y'all know. Have
28:32
Speaker 1: you eas with her? Uh No, because I would do
28:36
Speaker 1: zoomba and that was and they do a lot of
28:40
Speaker 1: the booty shake it in zoomba, and it was a
28:41
Speaker 1: shame because of like my thigh shake, my butt does not.
28:45
Speaker 1: So I would not, but shout out to her because
28:49
Speaker 1: she was, She's amazing, And I remember when that came
28:51
Speaker 1: out because I was looking through and how many times
28:53
Speaker 1: this has happened to her actually, because that wasn't the
28:56
Speaker 1: only one. That wasn't the only one. Even still that's
28:58
Speaker 1: still not the only one because she did. I believe
29:00
Speaker 1: it was her who did the recent one where she
29:02
Speaker 1: was at the Marta station and did this duet and
29:04
Speaker 1: she just offers it up and it's like, yes, you
29:07
Speaker 1: welcome to use this and take this, and yeah, it's
29:10
Speaker 1: fine to have it and have it as a duet
29:12
Speaker 1: with her, which I've seen them do a lot, but
29:14
Speaker 1: you have content where it's not a duet, it's literally
29:17
Speaker 1: just them being like I'm doing it ha ha uh.
29:20
Speaker 1: And we see that at often times. And I know you,
29:22
Speaker 1: like you said, TikTok and Instagram and all the other
29:25
Speaker 1: places have actually been accused of erasing and censoring a
29:28
Speaker 1: lot of the marginalized community. So I know there's a
29:31
Speaker 1: big uproar with TikTok right now, especially during Pride Month,
29:34
Speaker 1: because a lot of the LGBTQ community, the quart community
29:37
Speaker 1: have been censored and have been taken off left and right. Oh. Absolutely,
29:41
Speaker 1: if there was one thing that I would say that
29:43
Speaker 1: marginalized content creators on platforms like TikTok and also Instagram,
29:47
Speaker 1: all in Unison talk about is that they feel they
29:50
Speaker 1: are being suppressed by these platforms. And it really is
29:54
Speaker 1: tough for me as a black queer woman. I I
29:58
Speaker 1: don't want to go off on a whole ran, so
30:00
Speaker 1: I'll try to rein it in. But it's Pride months,
30:03
Speaker 1: and it's hard for me to see platforms doing their
30:07
Speaker 1: rainbow flag and talking about how much they love Pride
30:10
Speaker 1: and like, yeah, we love our LGBTQ community, woo, but
30:14
Speaker 1: knowing those same platforms do not give the same support
30:18
Speaker 1: to marginalized creators. And so it's like, when when you
30:20
Speaker 1: change your you know, icon to rainbow, how are you
30:24
Speaker 1: actually supporting the LGBTQ folks on your platform? Are you
30:26
Speaker 1: suppressing them? Are you amplifying them? You know? Do you
30:30
Speaker 1: shout them out three d and sixty five days a
30:32
Speaker 1: year or just during Pride, you know? And it almost
30:35
Speaker 1: feels a little empty, a little hollow for me. I'm
30:37
Speaker 1: a little bit of a Pride grinch to be honest
30:39
Speaker 1: with you person, because of that, you know, and when
30:43
Speaker 1: we're talking about marginalized communities, if a platform is actively
30:48
Speaker 1: suppressing our voices, think about all the different movements, like
30:52
Speaker 1: world changing, global movements that have been started on these platforms.
30:56
Speaker 1: Black Lives Matters started by black queer women, Me Too
30:59
Speaker 1: started a black woman. We are having conversations that can
31:03
Speaker 1: change the world on these platforms. And so the least
31:06
Speaker 1: that these platforms can do is not stand in our
31:09
Speaker 1: way and not suppress our voices when we do it
31:11
Speaker 1: and time and time again, Black creators, transporators, lgbt Q creators,
31:16
Speaker 1: sex workers, Palestinian creators, indigenous creators, all of them in unison.
31:21
Speaker 1: If there's one thing I have learned from talking to
31:23
Speaker 1: marginalized content creators online is that they feel they are
31:25
Speaker 1: being suppressed by platforms and is like almost universal. And
31:29
Speaker 1: it's really sad because I think that these platforms want
31:32
Speaker 1: it both ways. They want the credit for for like
31:34
Speaker 1: being the platform on which these movements you know, happened,
31:38
Speaker 1: but then they also don't want to give those folks
31:41
Speaker 1: an equal playing field. They don't want to give those
31:43
Speaker 1: folks a loud voice. I know recently Fuels on Instagram
32:01
Speaker 1: and I know we're talking about TikTok, but it's it's
32:03
Speaker 1: very much the same There was an underwear company who
32:07
Speaker 1: had different models post their own videos and they would
32:11
Speaker 1: be all the exact same videos, but weirdly enough, it
32:14
Speaker 1: was all of the black models that all got deleted
32:16
Speaker 1: and god since then got flagged. They actually got flagged
32:19
Speaker 1: as being told they violated some rule and all the
32:21
Speaker 1: white content was kept up and there was this big
32:24
Speaker 1: uproar like what is happening? Why are you guys so
32:28
Speaker 1: offended by black women's bodies that you are taking this off?
32:32
Speaker 1: And I know TikTok kind of had the same thing
32:34
Speaker 1: of just pulling specific and flagging them, saying that you're suspended,
32:38
Speaker 1: like they went us that further instead of just like
32:40
Speaker 1: we're not gonna just push you up, we're taking you off,
32:43
Speaker 1: fighting you and telling you were about to be deleted
32:45
Speaker 1: from this account. Absolutely. What I've seen people talking about
32:48
Speaker 1: on TikTok's specifically is that on TikTok are not allowed
32:51
Speaker 1: to have nudity, and so if you have nudity or
32:53
Speaker 1: like perceived nudity on your content, they'll flag it, will
32:56
Speaker 1: take it down, we'll spend you know whatever, and how
33:00
Speaker 1: they define what is nudity that violates their policies, it
33:04
Speaker 1: seems like if you are white and if you are thin,
33:09
Speaker 1: you kind of get a past, and if you are
33:11
Speaker 1: someone who is not thin or someone who is not white,
33:14
Speaker 1: your nudity is like more against their policies than someone
33:17
Speaker 1: else's nudity, I guess, And again I think that we
33:21
Speaker 1: really need to have some honest, open conversations about these
33:27
Speaker 1: platforms that can shape so much of how we live
33:30
Speaker 1: our lives. Like the average user of TikTok is very young,
33:34
Speaker 1: and so if you have an algorithm that is telling
33:36
Speaker 1: them if your if your body looks like this, it's offensive,
33:39
Speaker 1: it needs to come down. Young people are really going
33:41
Speaker 1: to internalize that, you know. And it's like we need
33:43
Speaker 1: to take some responsibility for the digital climate that we're creating,
33:47
Speaker 1: particularly for our young people, Like it is critically important
33:51
Speaker 1: that we all understand how important it is that these
33:55
Speaker 1: platforms be good stewards of their content and good stewards
33:58
Speaker 1: of like the way they are shaping generations and minds,
34:02
Speaker 1: like on TikTok. Also, it's like they have a lot
34:05
Speaker 1: of content that is almost kind of like promoting eating
34:09
Speaker 1: disorders or like or like disordered eating, and it's like
34:12
Speaker 1: people who make this content have all of these tricky
34:15
Speaker 1: ways of getting around it, getting around and so like
34:17
Speaker 1: that content is like banned on TikTok, you're not meant
34:19
Speaker 1: to be uploading it, but people have all of these
34:21
Speaker 1: ways of getting around it. And it's like these things
34:24
Speaker 1: are urgent, it cannot wait. And so if you don't
34:25
Speaker 1: have a team that can moderate this stuff effectively take
34:28
Speaker 1: it down with the quickness, it is critically important. They're
34:31
Speaker 1: talking about people's well being, like the well being of
34:34
Speaker 1: our young people, and I think it's really interesting that
34:37
Speaker 1: when it comes to black creators, marginalized creators, they are
34:41
Speaker 1: being hit on every way, whether it's completely censoring them
34:44
Speaker 1: or just not pushing them forward. So literally being like, okay,
34:47
Speaker 1: this is too much that we're not gonna allow this
34:49
Speaker 1: to happen. Oh you're good, but it's not gonna be
34:51
Speaker 1: as good as this white person who's taking your content
34:54
Speaker 1: can do better. And so with all of that, do
34:58
Speaker 1: you think things like this type of strike is to
35:00
Speaker 1: actually be effective and what will work? Yes? I absolutely,
35:04
Speaker 1: like I'm I am I'm a big believer in like
35:07
Speaker 1: unions and striking, So I'm always like solidarity if you're
35:11
Speaker 1: if you're striking, I support you, Yeah, I think that
35:16
Speaker 1: what I'm what I'm so interested in with these creators
35:18
Speaker 1: who are striking on TikTok is that they've recognized that,
35:21
Speaker 1: like there is no platform really without them and and
35:26
Speaker 1: that collective power. I think I'm so glad that these
35:28
Speaker 1: young people are like seeing the power in the collective.
35:31
Speaker 1: And it's absolutely true, right, Like, you know, TikTok is
35:34
Speaker 1: such a big platform. So usually how it works is
35:36
Speaker 1: like when a new single drops, like TikTok is the
35:40
Speaker 1: platform to sort of market and promote that. And so
35:42
Speaker 1: when a new single drops, usually black women dancers will
35:45
Speaker 1: make a dance to the song and that kind of
35:47
Speaker 1: becomes the dance to that song, and you know, other
35:50
Speaker 1: people will film themselves doing that dance, and that the
35:53
Speaker 1: song kind of gets more marketing, gets more popular through that,
35:56
Speaker 1: and so that's generally how it has worked. But these
35:59
Speaker 1: black women dancers and creators are saying no more. They're
36:03
Speaker 1: on strike. So this new Megan the Stallion song just
36:06
Speaker 1: dropped thought and it's like it's like, of course it's
36:10
Speaker 1: a song that should have an accompanying TikTok dance. Well,
36:13
Speaker 1: these black women TikTokers are saying no more. We're not
36:15
Speaker 1: gonna make a make a dance to promote this song
36:19
Speaker 1: to help our unpaid labor is not going to go
36:21
Speaker 1: to promote this app that does not support us, just
36:23
Speaker 1: does not amplify us. And we're on strike. So here's
36:26
Speaker 1: a good quote from Amanda Betett. She's the co founder
36:29
Speaker 1: of a consultancy firm, Define and Empower, and she made
36:31
Speaker 1: a viral TikTok explaining the strike. She says, Black creators
36:35
Speaker 1: are tired of white people profiting off of our work
36:37
Speaker 1: and appropriating black culture. We've seen the ways that older
36:40
Speaker 1: generations of black creators have been disrespected and erased, and
36:43
Speaker 1: we're not having it anymore. And I think she is
36:46
Speaker 1: so right that for a long time it was just
36:49
Speaker 1: a given that people like Jolila will just be like, Oh,
36:52
Speaker 1: you're just gonna you're you're not gonna get as famous
36:54
Speaker 1: as the person who does your dance, and like, that's
36:57
Speaker 1: just the way it is. You're gonna be an afterthought
36:59
Speaker 1: on something that you created, That's just the way it is.
37:02
Speaker 1: I am so happy to see these youths really have
37:05
Speaker 1: a different understanding of what could be possible from these platforms,
37:08
Speaker 1: and they're absolutely right there is no reason why platforms
37:12
Speaker 1: like TikTok should not be adequately supporting and amplifying their
37:15
Speaker 1: work when that work fuels their platforms and lines to
37:18
Speaker 1: pockets of the people who run this app, right, and
37:20
Speaker 1: so absolutely I think they're exactly right. What's funny, though,
37:24
Speaker 1: is that in absence of these black women dancers kind
37:27
Speaker 1: of creating the dance for this megana Stallion song, other
37:32
Speaker 1: creators have sort of like stepped in and tried to
37:34
Speaker 1: fill that void, and the results have been awkward. I
37:44
Speaker 1: think my favorite part of the whole thing, though, is that,
37:48
Speaker 1: um not that I'm a creator. I'm not in any
37:50
Speaker 1: of the ways. I can follow a move here and there,
37:53
Speaker 1: and I would never pretend to be. But it feels
37:55
Speaker 1: like in Megan the Stallion song, she kind of gives instructions,
37:59
Speaker 1: does she not? He says hands on my knees, shaking
38:03
Speaker 1: ass all my thoughts. It's pretty clear. So if you
38:07
Speaker 1: saw you heard that and you were like, I'm gonna
38:09
Speaker 1: come up with a dance for this, it does seem
38:12
Speaker 1: like you will put your hands on your knees and
38:13
Speaker 1: shake your ass, right, But the dance, it is sort
38:17
Speaker 1: of like emerged is people with their hands in the
38:20
Speaker 1: air and waving them above their head, so like pretty
38:22
Speaker 1: far from the knees, you know, opposite direction direction opposite maybe,
38:30
Speaker 1: I don't know, it's it's it's interesting. I mean, my friend,
38:33
Speaker 1: my good friend Leslie Mack on Twitter, she tweeted at
38:36
Speaker 1: a collection of all these videos and it was hysterical.
38:39
Speaker 1: You know, I'm not gonna became like I'm some great dancer,
38:41
Speaker 1: but it does seem like the instructions are right there,
38:44
Speaker 1: like I tell you what you should be doing. I mean,
38:48
Speaker 1: to be fair for these people that are trying their hardest.
38:52
Speaker 1: Maybe they're like me and they know their assets do
38:55
Speaker 1: not match these instructions. Same I am. I am also
39:00
Speaker 1: I also deal with the same affliction. Yeah, I mean,
39:07
Speaker 1: it's all it's all in good fun and honestly, like
39:09
Speaker 1: I anybody who has the courage to dance on an app,
39:12
Speaker 1: I salute you, because I certainly do not. But I
39:15
Speaker 1: think it does show that like when black creators don't,
39:21
Speaker 1: you know, do the labor of coming up as a dance,
39:24
Speaker 1: it's not as good. It's like awkward, it's like not
39:26
Speaker 1: it's like not as it's not as it doesn't feel
39:31
Speaker 1: as authentic and I think that that that it really
39:33
Speaker 1: illustrates the power that these creators have over the platform. Right,
39:37
Speaker 1: I think it can feel like when you're a user
39:39
Speaker 1: of social media, I think it can feel like you
39:41
Speaker 1: don't have any power that you know, whatever Zuckerberg or
39:45
Speaker 1: Jack Dorsey or whoever, whatever little decisions they make in
39:47
Speaker 1: the algorithm or whatever little decisions they make on their platform,
39:51
Speaker 1: you are just subjected to those And I don't think
39:53
Speaker 1: it should be that way. And I really salute these
39:56
Speaker 1: black creators for saying, no, we're not. We don't have
39:59
Speaker 1: to just take whatever policies or platform at you know,
40:03
Speaker 1: or algorithmic whatever you throw at us. We have some
40:06
Speaker 1: say because we have some power, and that there's so
40:08
Speaker 1: much power in the collective. So I am I am
40:11
Speaker 1: shout out to these young people for recognizing their collective
40:15
Speaker 1: power and organizing the strength. Yeah, you've maybe you want
40:19
Speaker 1: to check out to talk. I know we're talking about
40:22
Speaker 1: a lot of problems, but now I'm like, let's see
40:25
Speaker 1: what I can find on It is a fun Like
40:28
Speaker 1: like any platform, it has its problems, but like it
40:31
Speaker 1: is a it is a platform that I deeply deeply enjoy.
40:34
Speaker 1: There for for every like problematic thing about it. I
40:38
Speaker 1: do think it's I think it's new enough of a
40:40
Speaker 1: platform that like, it doesn't really know what it's going
40:43
Speaker 1: to be yet, and I think there is so much
40:44
Speaker 1: potential for it to be something that is a net
40:47
Speaker 1: positive on society. I would love to see that, and
40:50
Speaker 1: I think it's possible. So, knowing that this is a
40:53
Speaker 1: newer platform and we may be able to influence, is
40:55
Speaker 1: there a way that we can make sure that the
40:57
Speaker 1: same mistakes on Instagram and Twitter in trying to avoid
41:01
Speaker 1: a ratio and trying to allow for the appropriate people
41:04
Speaker 1: to be up on this platform. Is there a way
41:06
Speaker 1: that we can help with that. I would say if
41:09
Speaker 1: you are someone and this is true across platforms, if
41:12
Speaker 1: you are someone who is on the platform, do whatever
41:15
Speaker 1: you can to support marginalized creators on that platform. So
41:18
Speaker 1: if you come across a video or TikTok or an
41:20
Speaker 1: Instagram post, make sure that you are showing that post
41:23
Speaker 1: some love if it's it's marginalized creator that you like
41:26
Speaker 1: and you like their content, because it really will help
41:28
Speaker 1: them get more support. Um, that's something that anybody can do. Like,
41:31
Speaker 1: if you come across like, show them some love, leave
41:33
Speaker 1: them a comment, engage with their posts, because that will
41:36
Speaker 1: definitely help them be seen. However, it's one of those
41:39
Speaker 1: things like it's a little bit like climate change, where
41:41
Speaker 1: it's like and if there are things that individual users
41:44
Speaker 1: can do, but ultimately the people with power should be
41:47
Speaker 1: the ones who are who are you know, making the
41:49
Speaker 1: calls and doing the decisions and all of that, and
41:51
Speaker 1: so we need to continue to pressure those folks. One
41:54
Speaker 1: way that folks can help this is not about TikTok
41:56
Speaker 1: but fun fact in Facebook recently announced plans to release
42:01
Speaker 1: an Instagram for kids. A handful of attorneys general across
42:05
Speaker 1: the country all got together and said, please don't do this.
42:08
Speaker 1: This is going to be so harmful to youth, especially girls,
42:12
Speaker 1: because we know that it is young girls who really
42:15
Speaker 1: bear the brunt of the harm of social media companies.
42:18
Speaker 1: We know that social media platforms we like. If you're
42:21
Speaker 1: on social media, you've probably felt the way that it
42:23
Speaker 1: is like harm your mental health at some point or another.
42:25
Speaker 1: And giving kids unfettered access to a platform like that's
42:30
Speaker 1: quote for them is so harmful and and further as
42:33
Speaker 1: a burden to parents, many of whom right now are
42:35
Speaker 1: just like completely overworked trying to do like virtual school
42:38
Speaker 1: and work or whatever. And so I think that our
42:41
Speaker 1: kids health is more important than lining the pockets of
42:44
Speaker 1: Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook shareholders. And if you agree, you
42:47
Speaker 1: can go to we are ultra Violet dot org and
42:49
Speaker 1: check out our petition asking Facebook to not come up
42:53
Speaker 1: with an Instagram for kids. To please stop this plan
42:55
Speaker 1: because I think it really will harm a new generation
42:58
Speaker 1: of more of like girls and young people in in
43:01
Speaker 1: a really serious way. Oh god, I have looks at
43:05
Speaker 1: our on our face. It's bad. No, and people are
43:12
Speaker 1: actually worried about sex trafficking. This should be something that
43:15
Speaker 1: that's number one on the list, Like we don't need
43:18
Speaker 1: an Instagram for kids, like we just like we just
43:20
Speaker 1: don't need Like who asked for this? We don't need it? No,
43:22
Speaker 1: thank you, okay, um? Well anything anything you want to
43:30
Speaker 1: say before we wrap up here. I think that's it. Yeah,
43:33
Speaker 1: I want like marginalized under represented creators support us, Support
43:38
Speaker 1: us on platforms like TikTok, offline online support. Yes, And
43:44
Speaker 1: speaking of bridget where can the listeners find you? Well,
43:47
Speaker 1: you can subscribe to my podcast. There are no girls
43:49
Speaker 1: on the internet on this very network. Can follow me
43:52
Speaker 1: on Instagram at Bridget Marian d c or on Twitter
43:54
Speaker 1: at Bridget Marine or on TikTok And you want to
43:57
Speaker 1: see my one cat TikTok at Bridget next podcast. I
44:02
Speaker 1: bet it's amazing. Bridget my cat Monica. She's a star.
44:07
Speaker 1: She's gonna go. Make sure to credit Monica. Credit Monica. Oh,
44:16
Speaker 1: thanks so much as always for being here. Bridget always
44:18
Speaker 1: a delight, all my pleasure and listeners. If you would
44:21
Speaker 1: like to contact us, you can or email us Stuff Media,
44:24
Speaker 1: mom Stuff It I Hurt me dot com. You can
44:25
Speaker 1: find us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast or on
44:27
Speaker 1: Instagram at stuff I Never Told You. Thanks, It's always start.
44:30
Speaker 1: Producer Christina, thank you and thanks to you for listening
44:33
Speaker 1: Stuff I Never Told you his production. If I Hire
44:35
Speaker 1: Radio more podcast, When I Hurt Radio, visit the Heart
44:37
Speaker 1: radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your
44:39
Speaker 1: favorite shows,