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Forbes has just released its list of highest TikTok earners. And in the news that should shock no one (though by no means does it make it any less annoying), exactly zero of the top earners on the platform are Black. Even worse, the top earners on the platform are getting opportunities that aren’t available to their Black counterparts. For example, Variety reports that Charli and Dixie D’Amelio — sisters who have made more than $20 million, combined, on the popular social media platform — have secured their own show courtesy of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook Media. They also had their own Hulu reality show, and have secured countless endorsement deals. What’s more, TikTok’s top influencers can charge a pretty penny for a sponsored post. According to Variety, most of the top influencers charge an average of $100,000 to $250,000 per post, with a top influencer charging $500,000 for just one sponsored post. Yet, Black TikTok stars are just as formidable as their white...
When people think of Black TikTok stars, perhaps Jason Derulo isn’t high on the list. After all, when we were all first introduced to Derulo, we knew him as a music star. “I was never really a social media guy because Twitter and Instagram didn’t really speak to me,” he said to Variety. “And when it started, TikTok was more of a dance app, and I tried a challenge or two. But because I was at home, I started to experiment with it. More than half of the top TikTok videos are comedy, so I’d post things and be like, ‘OK, they don’t respond to this, but they seem to like that,’ and learned what made it tick,” he laughs, “for lack of a better word. And it all just kinda exploded.” But thanks to the popular social media app, Derulo has enjoyed a bit of a career renaissance. He has 49.6 million followers on TikTok as of this writing, and he shows no signs of slowing down. But Derulo is far from the only one doing his thing on the popular social media app. In fact, these Black TikTok stars...
Black TikTokers are fed up with not getting the credit they deserve for starting social media’s most popular dance trends. Now they’re going on an online strike to protest against white creators who steal their work. Most recently, there have been several reports that state Black creators on the video sharing platform have staged a strike refusing to make a new dance to Megan Thee Stallion’s newest TikTok-made song, “Thot S**t.” Reason being, Black TikTokers don’t want to see white creators stealing yet another dance trend from them. This past weekend, TikTok creator Erick Louis (@theericklouis) posted a video online saying that he made up a new dance to Megan’s song but before he could reveal it, text on the video said, “Sike. This app would be nothing without [Black] people.” @theericklouis If y’all do the dance pls tag me ? it’s my first dance on Tik tok and I don’t need nobody stealing/not crediting ♬ Thot Shit – Megan Thee Stallion According to Insider, other Black creators...
Social media has become the birthplace for content creation in the digital age, and users from all over are taking advantage of apps like TikTok to jumpstart their careers or internet fame. This year we witnessed influencers storm TikTok’s short-form visual platform with viral dances, funny skits, and calls to action. Above all, our increased support for Black TikTokers got them the recognition they’ve earned as trendsetters in pop culture. The uptick in TikTok’s influence in 2020 was the reflection of our reality living through both a global health pandemic and mass protests to condemn systemic racism in our society. The latter proved to be prevalent even on our social platforms that should be meant to provide equal opportunity. Unfortunately, there have been several mishaps this year where Black creators on TikTok have reported that they receive far less credit than other users on the app. Like many other platforms, TikTok has become a power play in bringing in potential revenue....
If you’ve grown up in the digital age , you likely have some understanding of how unreliable information spreads across the net. Millennials far and wide have been inundated with enough YouTube troll comments, Nigerian prince emails and “free iPhone” pop-ups to build a healthy skepticism of internet browsing. Now, it seems that this learning curve has become a perennial part of growing up, as Gen Z and Gen Alpha are surmising that social media apps like TikTok are rife with terrible financial advice. New studies from researchers at Intuit Credit Karma estimate that over 77 percent of Gen Z kids are looking to influencers on the short-form video app for money management, while roughly 61 percent of millennials are doing the same on YouTube and Facebook . In order to understand just how damaging these financial words of wisdom can be to a growing audience of youngsters, lets take a moment to briefly run through the data, and see exactly where young people are being led astray. After...
Editorial Note: Opinions and thoughts are the author’s own and not those of AFROTECH™. Meta came under fire after users rediscovered AI-generated accounts on Instagram and Facebook with AI-generated photos of Black people. Launched in 2023, these accounts introduced a lineup of celebrity AI characters, featuring the likenesses of Snoop Dogg, Kendall Jenner, MrBeast, and others. They were created to boost advertisers’ engagement. But since their launch, the accounts hadn’t garnered much attention. In the summer of 2024, Meta scrapped the celebrity AI accounts, leaving the non-celebrities up and allowing Meta users to create their own AI characters. But now that AI has become a hot-button topic as we enter 2025, Meta has expressed an interest in integrating user-generated AI profiles into its social media platforms. In December, during an interview with the Financial Times, Meta executive Connor Hayes stated, “We expect these AIs to actually, over time, exist on our platforms, kind...
Journalist Don Lemon has sued Elon Musk. Lemon was a co-host on CNN until he was let go from the network in April 2023, AP News mentioned. After his exit, Lemon was presented an offer from Musk, who acquired X in 2022, to form a partnership that would allow him to host his own show, “The Don Lemon Show.” According to a new lawsuit, Lemon claimed to be a “top prospect” for Musk who was seeking to onboard “reputable figures” to maintain advertiser interest, per CNBC. Variety noted the show was intended to allow Lemon to be “bigger, bolder, freer,” and he said it would “be available to everyone, easily, whenever and wherever you want it, streaming on the platforms where conversations are happening. And you’ll find it first on X, the biggest space for free speech in the world. I know now more than ever that we need a place for honest debate and discussion without the hall monitors. This is just the beginning so stay tuned.” Taping for the show kicked off with Lemon interviewing Musk....
Sometimes you unknowingly walk into your purpose, which seemed to be a common theme for some on the main stage of the Samsung Galaxy Creator Collective 2023. The multi-day event took place March 21-22, gathering diverse content creators from all over to support them along their journeys of turning their passion into profit with 40 hours of programming. From #TeamGalaxy’s Jaden Smith and Harry Hudson speaking on maintaining your authenticity as a creator to keynote speaker Marques Brownlee, or MKBHD, sharing insight into his journey, there was something valuable for everyone to take away — whether you were an aspiring creator looking to get in the game or already established your footing. Creators like Brownlee — who happens to be the latter — appear to make it look easy, but people may not be aware of the years he’s put in to build his platform making tech videos.
TikTok has a new creative addition on its hands that’s looking to take creators’ content to the next level. TechCrunch reports that the company has launched Effect House — its own augmented reality (AR) development platform. TikTokers will now have access to AR effects within the video app to grow their reach and level of creativity. While already known for its extensive library of effects, the launch allows for creators to build their own effects, according to the outlet. The new expansion further tightens its competition against Snap and Meta. “Effect House brings your storytelling to life through powerful, intuitive, and expressive features,” its website describes. “Our built-in capabilities — from advanced tracking to rich interactions — enable you to experiment, create, preview, publish and manage all your effects on TikTok.” Effect House has been in close beta since its creation in 2021. Now, after it’s officially gone public, TikTok is opening up beta access from its initial...
TikTok continues to take it up a notch! The social media giant allowed users to capture 60-second video clips as of July 2021. Now, in 2022, it has announced users can expect to capture videos totaling 10 minutes, Variety reports. On average, TikTok users reportedly spend 52 minutes per day on the application, and 90 percent of TikTokers return to the application daily. Arguably one of the most addictive applications, the new feature will add to its list of reasons to keep users reeled in for more. “We’re always thinking about new ways to bring value to our community and enrich the TikTok experience,” a TikTok rep said in a statement, according to Variety. “Last year, we introduced longer videos, giving our community more time to create and be entertained on TikTok. Today, we’re excited to start rolling out the ability to upload videos that are up to 10 minutes, which we hope would unleash even more creative possibilities for our creators around the world.”
Evolving with social media is no small feat, yet Rickey Thompson and Denzel Dion have made it look easy. The online world has watched the two influencers and best friends grow up from six-second Vines to becoming YouTubers — because before TikTok, YouTube was where a class of Black content creators entered the space and took the Internet by storm. And things were clearly just beginning, as Thompson and Dion seemingly went on to make even bigger moves in the entertainment industry. In my opinion, their success is marked as wins, especially when up against not being awarded the same level of opportunities as their white counterparts. However, t he two have stayed ten toes down in the game for nearly a decade — even though the way Black content creators get treated hasn’t really improved much. Take, for example, how Black TikTokers are the creative masterminds behind some of the biggest trends on the platform, but still, Forbes’ list of the highest TikTok earners featured no Black...
Like other celebrities who have had enough of censorship on social media platforms, Summer Walker might be throwing in the towel with Instagram too. Last Thursday (Aug. 26), the R&B singer took to her secondary Instagram account to share with her followers an alternative solution to solve her problems with the visual app, REVOLT reports. “I’m bout to look into creating a app similar cause this IG shit going to hell,” she wrote in a post before also adding, “idk if I even wanna drop my Galactawhore merch on here….. lol it might go against they “‘guidelines.’” Walker has ran into some trouble recently with the content she’s posted on her Instagram page, citing her violations against the app’s guidelines after posting several controversial posts online — including anti-vaccination rhetoric. “I’m done w this app, and really this whole plandemic agenda,” she wrote in a since-deleted post in response to Instagram flagging her content. “It goes against guidelines to say sleep, water,...