BU Research Blog

TikTok has become a place where people do much more than follow trends or watch entertaining videos. For many users, it is also a public space for sharing personal experiences of racism. A short video describing a discriminatory encounter can reach far beyond someone’s immediate social network, attracting responses from people they may never meet.

But what happens after someone shares such an experience? How do audiences respond? What might these responses mean for wider conversations about racism?

These are the questions I explored with my co-authors in a recently accepted study on audience responses to self-disclosures of anti-Asian racial discrimination on TikTok. We analysed 1,531 comments on 171 TikTok videos and found both possibilities and limitations in how audiences engage with these personal stories.

Support dominates the conversation

The clearest pattern was social support.

More than a third of the comments expressed what we describe as esteem support, which refers to responses that affirmed or validated the person sharing their experience. Emotional support was also common, with commenters expressing sympathy, care and encouragement.

For social media users, this highlights that even seemingly simple responses matter. Expressing support can make solidarity visible and contribute to a comment space in which experiences of racism are publicly acknowledged.

Comment sections can also become spaces for exchanging knowledge

Audiences did more than offer support. Many shared information or their own experiences of racism.

One person’s account of discrimination might prompt others to describe similar experiences in another workplace, city or country. Viewed together, these individual contributions can present a broader and more nuanced picture of how racism is experienced.

For organisations and campaigners working on racial justice, this suggests that the value of a social media post can extend beyond the original content. The conversations developing underneath it can become another layer of public communication, where experiences and knowledge are exchanged.

But support does not necessarily lead to action

Our findings also reveal an important limitation.

Comments involving critical discussion of racism, criticism of anti-racism measures or calls for action were much less common than supportive responses and experience sharing.

This suggests we should be cautious about equating social media engagement with social change. A post can generate considerable empathy and interaction without necessarily prompting deeper reflection or collective action.

We also encountered counterproductive responses, reminding us that comment spaces do not automatically become constructive simply because the original content addresses racism.

What can we take from this?

For the public, our findings highlight that how we respond to disclosures of discrimination matters. Offering support can make recognition and solidarity publicly visible. But we can also think about what comes after support: Can we contribute useful knowledge? Can we reflect on the wider structures behind an individual experience? Can an online conversation point towards meaningful action?

For organisations and social media platforms, the findings suggest that success should not be understood simply in terms of how much engagement a post receives. What kind of engagement it generates matters too.

Social media can make personal experiences of racism visible to large audiences. Our study shows that the resulting conversations are often characterised by support and knowledge exchange. The bigger challenge is how these conversations might move beyond recognition and empathy towards critical reflection and action.

Dr. Xin Zhao

Principal Lecturer in Media and Communication

Project supported by British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grants