A longtime advocate for body positivity, Lizzo took to TikTok to accuse the social media platform of censoring videos she posted of herself wearing a bikini. Lipsyncing with sass along to another voice singing “I know I know I know”, she added a series of captions which read: “TikTok keep on taking down my videos with me in my bathing suits… but allows other videos with girls in bathing suits… I wonder why?”
The “Truth Hurts” singer ended the series of posts with a simple: “TikTok… we need to talk”.
TikTok has since responded to her allegations, outlining that it did not remove her videos because she was in a bathing suit, but because they included “sexual gratification”, which goes against community guidelines. Speaking to the Guardian, a spokesperson from the platform stated: “We love Lizzo’s creativity… the videos were originally removed because of other violations, not a bathing suit.”
This news follows a report by the German site NetzPolitik, which claimed TikTok was censoring videos from users who they deemed to be ‘special’ and ‘a bullying risk’. The report, published back in January, found “the platform instructed its moderators to mark videos of people with disabilities.” With “queer and fat people (making up the) list of ‘special users’ whose videos were regarded as a bullying risk by default”, the platform then capped in their reach, regardless of the content.
TikTok subsequently responded to the report’s allegations: “Early on, in response to an increase in bullying on the app, we implemented a blunt and temporary policy. While the intention was good, the approach was wrong and we have long since changed the earlier policy in favour of more nuanced anti-bullying policies and in-app protections.”
This is not the first social media site Lizzo has grappled with, however, with the singer momentarily quitting Twitter earlier this year due to “too many trolls”.
Lizzo’s videos are now back on TikTok.
