TikTok’s Queer Potential: Identity, Methods, Movements

Abstract

This commentary piece considers TikTok’s queer potential in terms of the platform’s use and subversion for the purposes of queer movements and worldmaking. It considers how TikTok’s affordances, features, and algorithmic functionalities both facilitate and hamper the expression of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and other diverse (LGBTQ+) identities and the formation of queer publics. As such, it proposes that queer methodologies, invoking multiple approaches infused with an ethics of care and attention to platform specificity, can be applied to examine the hurdles TikTok poses for LGBTQ+ people as well as how individuals appropriate the app for their purposes. By considering how queer identities, publics, and methods play out on TikTok, it becomes possible to locate the app’s existing and potential role in the realization of queer movements and futures.