What Is the Blackout on TikTok?

The Blackout on TikTok is a movement among users to go dark on the platform in protest of certain policies and alleged censorship. In recent months, TikTok has come under fire for its content moderation practices, the use of artificial intelligence to identify and remove videos that violate its terms of service, and for putting user data at risk.

The movement started in early 2020 when a group of users began using the hashtag #TikTokBlackout to organize a blackout on the app. The goal was to call attention to the platform’s censorship practices and have users organize a coordinated boycott of the app.

The blackout quickly gained momentum and spread across social media, with many users posting videos or pictures of their screens turned off or blacked out. The movement also spread beyond TikTok with other social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram seeing an uptick in posts about the blackout.

What Is Being Protested?

The protest against TikTok is multifaceted but largely centers around two main issues: content moderation policies and data security concerns. Specifically, protesters are concerned about how TikTok’s algorithms moderate what videos appear on the app and how much control it has over user data.

Content Moderation

TikTok has come under fire for its alleged content moderation practices, which some argue are censoring certain topics or videos that don’t adhere to Chinese Communist Party doctrine.

The platform has denied these allegations but protesters remain unconvinced.

Data Security

Another major concern is data security. In 2019, it was reported that TikTok was sending user data to servers located in China, raising questions about how secure user privacy is on the app. This issue has been compounded by reports that TikTok had allegedly hired contractors to spy on users’ conversations.

Conclusion: What Is the Blackout on TikTok? The Blackout on TikTok is a movement among users to go dark on the platform in protest of certain policies and alleged censorship such as content moderation practices and data security concerns. The goal is to call attention to these issues and have users organize a coordinated boycott of the app until their demands are met by management.