Are Black Creators Really on ‘Strike’ From TikTok?

A viral campaign aims to draw attention to the ways social platforms compensate users.

In a TikTok video from June 18, Erick Louis, a 21-year-old content creator and dancer in Orlando, Fla., nods and bounces along to Megan Thee Stallion’s latest single. “If y’all do the dance pls tag me 🙄,” he captioned the video. “It’s my first dance on Tik tok and I don’t need nobody stealing/not crediting.” But the joke is, there is no dance. Seconds later, with his lips pursed, Mr. Louis flips two middle fingers at the camera and walks away. “SIKE,” the caption reads. “THIS APP WOULD BE NOTHIN WITHOUT BLK PEOPLE.” By Thursday, the video had racked up 127,700 likes on TikTok and had spread rapidly on Twitter. “Yt people have no idea what to do with this sound because a black person hasn’t made a dance to it yet,” read one viral tweet.