Digital Blackface is the online practice of pretending to be Black (a person of African descent) by using the profile photos of Black people, historical Black figures, cartoon images depicting Black characters, and emojis using Brown/Black skin tones. Digital Blackface also includes using African American Vernacular and other African continental or Diasporic languages or vernaculars. Digital Blackface was used by fake accounts, troll accounts, and scammers during the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections as part of online manipulation campaigns targeting Black communities.
Digital Blackface was also used by various accounts pretending to advocate for social justice or reparations. For example, in 2018, the most followed Black Lives Matter page on Facebook was discovered to be controlled by a white Australian that used the account to seek donations. Another fake Black activism page, with the name “Black Elevation,” garnered thousands of followers but was part of an online manipulation effort targeting Black protestors, activists, and voters. The creators of the page are still unknown, and Facebook eventually removed the page. However, by then, Black Elevation had already influenced thousands of people and actually organized real-life events.
In 2020, Twitter removed thousands of fake “Blacks for Trump” accounts using Black Americans’ images taken from the internet. Digital Blackface continues to be used by bad actors as a tool for manipulation and spreading disinformation targeting Black communities.
NBCI Trust Digital Blackface Explainer Video:
Additional Sources
What is Digital Blackface?
https://guides.library.illinois.edu/socialmediaaccessibility/digitalblackface
Black Trolls Matter: Racial and Ideological Asymmetries in Social Media Disinformation
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0894439320914853
Fake Black Lives Matter Facebook page run by Australian union official – report
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/apr/10/fake-black-lives-matter-facebook-page-run-by-australian-union-official-report
Twitter suspends accounts for posing as Black Trump supporters
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/13/twitter-suspends-accounts-for-posing-as-black-trump-supporters
How a Fake Group on Facebook Created Real Protests
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/14/technology/facebook-disinformation-black-elevation.html