TikTok has introduced new tools aimed at giving creators greater recognition for their work.
"With the debut of these crediting capabilities," the firm writes in a blog post about the new features, "creators will be able to immediately tag, reference, and thank a video in their description, displaying the platform's various perspectives and the power of our community."
"Along with increased user reminders to credit throughout the publishing process, TikTok is also adding an instructional pop-up that encourages and emphasizes the necessity of crediting," the company claims. To put it another way, it's imitating an English instructor and prohibiting people from plagiarizing.
However, TikTok says the functionality will be hidden beneath a new "video" symbol, making acknowledging other producers a little more complicated. Users must then choose a video to include in their new post that they have "loved, favorited, uploaded, or that has utilized the same sound."
"It's critical to see a credit culture emerge across the digital environment," TikTok argues, "and to encourage underrepresented artists in being properly thanked and celebrated for their work."
These capabilities will be available to more people "in the coming weeks."
The move comes a year after Black artists went on strike(Opens in a new window) about a lack of recognition for choreographing some of the app's most popular dances. Black inventors have also complained about not getting the same money-making opportunities as their white counterparts.