IllustrationbyCallaMcBrideandCarsenGoltz

While few students claim to follow trends, even fewer claim to credit them. According to a January 2023 Bark survey, only eight percent of students always give credit to original creators and 35 percent of students sometimes do, while 30 percent randerson@redwoodbark.org

Jalaiah Harmon choreographed the dance, but was not credited until fans pressured D’Amelio into acknowledging it. While she later gave the proper credit, it is still her responsibility to acknowledge her lack of creation early on. The lack of credit for choreography reveals a more complex aspect of this issue: While stolen trends are not always culturally appropriated, creators are often not crediting the original creators of color, thus adding to a culture of racism on social media. D’Amelio has had wild success, becoming arguably one of the faces of TikTok; Harmon has not. And that is not to say Harmon would have necessarily reached D’Amelio’s level of fame, but nobody can ever be sure due to the chance being taken from her. When people claim credit or gain popularity for a trend they did not start, they are taking away the success that could have been rightfully gained by the original creator, and all too often this happens to creators of color. On social media, almost everything can be appropriated. Recently, “spa water” and “cowboy caviar” have gained popularity and critique as they can relate back to traditional foods from the Latinx community, like agua fresca, pico de gallo and ceviche. However, had these influencers done some research and credited the original creators of these trends, this cycle of racism and misinformation could have been halted. TikTok, the main source of these problems, has a search bar and Google is free to everyone. Looking things up doesn’t take time, and it can stop a long cycle of miscrediting.