TikTok Enables Crediting Videos

A post has been published on TikTok’s official website announcing a new way of crediting creators you admire. From now on, you can tag not only individual creators when you add a description to your video but also this or that video. The platform expects this to foster the spreading of credit culture and make it easier for users to give equitable credit to inspiring content makers. The biggest implication one can expect here is likely a big change in how videos become viral on TikTok and what influence this status has on creators’ appeal afterward. This is an interesting and controversial topic to explore because TikTok has been criticized repeatedly for how it handles viral trends.

It’s a rather common opinion that TikTok largely relies on viral videos for making a profit in parasitic ways. One of the most notable cases happened last summer when a number of Black dance-related content makers went on strike against the platform. What caused the outrage was the widespread pattern where a black dancer releases a dance that becomes popular to the point of viral and soon appears on hundreds of profiles. Very soon it turns out that a white dancer with a lot of followers is getting all the credit for it while the black creator with whom it originated has no option but to sit back and watch their dance being admired.

Kudzi Chikumbu, the director of TikTok’s creator community, announced the change to its crediting policy as an important step towards instilling a culture where everyone will get credit for what they do, which is described as being central to the platform’s role as a place for creative expression. Do you feel like the ability to tag a specific piece of content will improve the situation? Why, or why not? Leave a comment down below to share your opinion on this.