Meet The Collectives Carving Out Space For POC And LGBTQ+ Creators On TikTok

And since TikTok currently doesn’t pay out users for their content, securing those collaborations is essential to earn money, which allows for creators to purchase better equipment and, in turn, make stronger videos.“As a [POC] creator, you feel like you’re kind of excluded from opportunities,” Muthama said. “I think having people like [the University of Diversity] or the Melanin Mansion, it will help us uplift each other and also reach out to brands.” Muthama relates the shortage of monetizable opportunities to the lack of non-white creators featured on TikTok’s For You page, the feed where content is algorithmically suggested to users. You kind of see a lot of similar things, like a white creator who’s popular, and they’re kind of doing the same thing, lip-synching to a song.” This isn’t the first time the For You page has sparked concern: In December, netzpolitik.org reported that the app’s moderators had been censoring posts from those they identified as disabled, fat, or LGBTQ+.According to TikTok Director of Creator Community Kudzi Chikumbu: “Videos surface to a user’s For You feed based on things like video quality and viewer engagement.” That means that a new user’s feed will likely be filled with content coming out of Hype House and other verified users simply because they are the most popular on the platform. For newer users, joining forces with a collective might be the key to breaking into a space otherwise dominated by the most popular accounts, a notion echoed my Muthama: “Having a platform where you have big engagement and people are really supporting your back, I feel like that’s really important.”@cabin.sixlashawna didn't come to play no games 👀 #foryou♬ original sound - cabin.sixBut representation isn’t just important for the creators within these collectives; it’s important for all of TikTok’s 800 million active monthly users worldwide, with 60 percent of users in the U.S. falling between the ages of 16–24.