How Racial Inequalities Affect Influencers

pcmag.com:

Influencers make life look easy. They float on unicorns in crystal blue pools, eat impeccably arranged meals, and document huge hauls of luxury goods. While it may not seem like the concerns of the world affect them, the inescapable issues of inequality persist in the online lives of Black influencers.

So much of online culture takes from Black creators and influencers and they get back very little in return, whether that’s in credit, followers, or payment. Instead, they often have to contend with harassment in comments and discrimination from social media platforms. 

Righting some of these wrongs online is theoretically not as difficult as it is in real life. Brands and social media platforms can change their practices and policies, but they have been reluctant to do so unless faced with pushback after the public has been made aware of their bias. 

One of the first places this shows up is in follower count. Influencers and creators accumulate followers by appearing in discovery functions on platforms, like Instagram’s Explore Page and TikTok’s For You Page. Top Instagram influencers like Chiara Ferragni, Caroline Daur, and Camila Coelho have built up followings in the millions while most of their Black counterparts—like Tamu McPherson, Ellie Delphine, and Gabi Gregg—are far from the threshold of a million. On TikTok, which is inhabited by lots of houses of creators who live and make content together, there is the same stark difference. LA-based The Hype House, which has predominantly white creators, has 19.8 million followers and Atlanta-based Collab Crib, which has primarily Black creators, has 545,200 creators. 

The discrepancy in followers is in part because of the algorithms that the platforms run on. While