TikTok bans searches for 'White Lives Matter' to 'prevent the spread of hate'

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TikTok is now banning users from searching for the term “White Lives Matter,” which became a hot topic after Kanye West wore a shirt containing the phrase at a Paris Fashion Week event. 

The term has come under heat for being supposedly racist, despite being an inverse of the commonly accepted Black Lives Matter social movement. 

As detailed by Summit News’ Paul Joseph Watson, users who search for videos or profiles containing the term “White Lives Matter” are met with a message that informs them that the phrase “may be associated with hateful behavior.” 

“No results found. This phrase may be associated with hateful behavior. TikTok is committed to keeping our community safe and working to prevent the spread of hate. For more information, we invite you to review our Community Guidelines,” the message reads in full.

TikTok has previously employed similar censorship for racial and gender-related slurs, and even goes so far as to block users from searching for any individual deemed to be “hateful,” effectively expunging them from the results. 

TikTok is not the only social media platform to employ shadowbanning. Users on Twitter are routinely censored and “searchbanned,” which prevents others from looking them up through the platform’s built-in search function. 

You can verify this for yourself by searching for my personal Twitter account on Twitter. If you’re not already a follower, I will not show up on the search results. 

Despite TikTok’s ban of the term “White Lives Matter,” the platform has no problem giving exposure to trends where users are allowed to threaten others for refusing to support BLM, Summit News reported.