During a time where the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic is forcing people to stay at home and utilise digital platforms as a means to get by; the ready-to-hand and participatory nature of online virtual communities (Cavalcante, 2015) seems to take on an even greater importance than usual. Cited in Parks (2011), Rheingold believes that the ‘popularity of online communities is a response to the hunger for community that has followed the disintegration of traditional communities’ (p. 107).  In accordance with this idea, virtual spaces can act as an effective replacement for real social circles, carrying expectations of sociality, conviviality, empathetic emotional support and meaningful connection to others (Parks, 2011). These characteristics mean that online communities are particularly important to socially marginalised groups, as they have the potential to ‘improve well-being and provide a safe space to explore and manage identity’ (Smiths, Wickes, Underwood, 2015).

Social networking platform TikTok has proved to be popular within the transgender community, being hailed in the media as the ‘Gen Z tool for LGBTQ+ education’ (Raza- Sheikh, 2020). The short-form videos on the platform allow for a lot of creativity and a quick exchange of messages between users, falling in line with the three social affordances of membership, personal expression and connection that is required to form a virtual community online (Parks, 2011). Videos on the platform can be grouped into categories based on the hashtag assigned to it, making it easy to search out particular communities and contribute to stream of content. Some of the popular hashtags in the TikTok transgender community include #trans, #transgender, #transbeauty and #transisbeatiful.

(Criddle, 2020)

Cavalcante (2015) outlines how transgender people often turn to digital media to create a life which is consistent with their desires. In the case of TikTok, the platform takes on the roll of a virtual counter public which acts to furnish ‘feelings of belonging and ideological affiliation’ (Cavalcante, 2015). However, despite offering a safe space for many users, the platform has come under criticism for its censorship polices which seem to unfairly target members of the LGBTQ+ community (Criddle, 2020). Trans users have complained about their videos being taken down or having the sound removed without any explanation, while a study from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) revealed that LGBTQ+ hashtags were being shadow banned to make them more difficult to find (Badham, 2020).

This is extremely problematic for marginalised communities on the platform, who use TikTok as a form of escapism from negative societal views. By censoring and shadow-banning content, the platform’s policies ‘enact and reinforce a hegemonic process that actively contributes to the legitimation of the social order’ (Chunn and Lamcombe in Olszanowski, 2014). Olszanowski points out that censorship on social media platforms contributes to how sub-alternative communities are ‘built and maintained’ (2014: 85), therefore showing TikTok’s responsibility to make sure users on the platform are not subjected to the same discrimination which may meet them in everyday life.

References:

Badham, R. (2020) ‘LGBTQ+ content censored by TikTok’. GScene. 9 September 2020.  Available at: https://www.gscene.com/news/lgbtq-content-censored-by-tiktok/ [Accessed: November 9 2020]

Cavalcante, A. (2016) “I Did It All Online:” Transgender identity and the management of everyday life. Critical studies in media communication, 33(1), pp.109-122.

Criddle, C. (2020) ‘Transgender users accuse TikTok of censorship’. BBC. 12 February 2020. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-51474114 [Accessed: 9 November 2020]

Criddle, C. (2020) ‘Transgender users accuse TikTok of censorship’. BBC. [Image] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-51474114 [Accessed: 9 November 2020]

Olszanowski, M. (2014) Feminist self-imaging and Instagram: Tactics of circumventing sensorship. Visual Communication Quarterly, 21(2), pp.83-95.

Parks, M.R. (2011) Social network sites as virtual communities. A networked self: Identity, community, and culture on social network sites, pp.105-123.

Raza-Sheikh, z. (2020) ‘It’s here and queer: how TikTok became the Gen Z tool of LGBTQ+ education’. Gay Times. 23 October 2020. Available at: https://www.gaytimes.co.uk/originals/its-here-and-queer-how-tiktok-became-the-gen-z-tool-of-lgbtq-education/ [Accessed: 9 November]

Smith, N., Wickes, R. and Underwood, M. (2015) Managing a marginalised identity in pro-anorexia and fat acceptance cybercommunities. Journal of Sociology, 51(4), pp.950-967.