TikTok Issues Apology to Black Community For ‘Glitch’ Showing No Views on Black Lives Matter Posts

TikTok executives are issuing an apology to the black community.

The video app says there was a technical glitch which caused Black Lives Matter and George Floyd posts to show they had no views.

“We want you to know that we hear you and we care about your experiences on TikTok. We acknowledge and apologize to our Black creators and community who have felt unsafe, unsupported, or suppressed. We don’t ever want anyone to feel that way. We welcome the voices of the Black community wholeheartedly,” Vanessa Pappas, TikTok US General Manager, and Kudzi Chikumbu, Director of Creator Community, said in a letter.

They continued, “On May 19, Black creators and allies took an important stance in changing their profile pictures and connecting on the platform to speak out against how they feel the Black community has been marginalized on TikTok. And at the height of a raw and painful time, last week a technical glitch made it temporarily appear as if posts uploaded using #BlackLivesMatter and #GeorgeFloyd would receive 0 views. This was a display issue only that widely affected hashtags at large, and powerful videos with the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag continued to be uploaded, viewed, and engaged with – in fact, videos with these hashtags have currently generated well over 2 billion views, which is a testament to their importance to and resonance among our community. Nevertheless, we understand that many assumed this bug to be an intentional act to suppress the experiences and invalidate the emotions felt by the Black community. And we know we have work to do to regain and repair that trust.”

“We also fully acknowledge our responsibility to not simply wish for and talk about the importance of diversity on our platform, but to actively promote and protect it. We share in the pain our country is in, and it is palpable across our TikTok communities. We stand shoulder to shoulder with the Black community and, as we write this, our teams are working on ways to elevate and support Black voices and causes,” the executives added.

To read their full letter, head to Newsroom.TikTok.com!

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