A theoretical and critical manifesto on TikTok and its effect on cultural heritage, visual culture, AI, community organizing and top-down digital censorship as the ban on this massive online platform looms from a writer, artist and popular creator on the app itself.
In April 2024, President Biden signed a bill mandating that the Chinese company ByteDance sell TikTok to an American company, or face a nationwide ban of the app. Denigrated by lawmakers for (unfounded) data security concerns and mocked by many for being just another way that teenagers are rotting their brains, critics of the extraordinarily popular social media app have voiced their technophobia loudly. But as TikTok creator, artist and journalist Torey Akers argues, TikTok is far more than its detractors think: it is a powerful tool for archiving our digital and visual culture, as well as an immensely potent democratic, informative force at a time when communities' ability to connect and organize online is vital.
REVOLUTIONARY ALGORITHMS is a sharp, compelling manifesto on the cultural power of TikTok. Akers comes to the subject with a deep understanding of the app, as both a prolific creator and consumer of its content. In these thoughtful and cogent essays, she interrogates how the TikTok ban and the multiple genocides happening around the world are deeply intertwined; how the app can empower creators, amplify social movements, and document abuses of power; and how the popularity of the platform, the development of AI, and an environment of digital censorship have combined to create the socio-political momentum that pushed the ban through Congress with support from both parties. She writes for those who love the app and those who hate it, addressing the good, bad, and sometimes uncanny parts of maneuvering and communicating in a digital space. As a new era of social media looms, Akers makes the case for techno-progressivism, looking toward a future where TikTok continues to connect, inspiring and creating space for more intersectionality, equity, and joy. Torey Akers is a Brooklyn-based artist, writer, and popular TikTok creator. She writes primarily for The Art Newspaper and has been published in outlets such as Big Red & Shiny, Fog Machine, and ArtsEditor. Her artwork has been consistently displayed at museums and galleries across the country since 2013.
