Discrepancies experienced by Black content creators [new data + expert insights]

This piece is in collaboration with HubSpot Podcast Network’s Amplifying Voices campaign partnership with The Gathering Spot.

Black content creators, let's take a walk down memory lane together.

I remember it as if it were yesterday. (I bet you do, too.) It was 2020, and Charli D’Amelio shared a video on TikTok doing the notorious Renegade dance. The video blew up and, to this day, it remains her claim to accelerated internet fame. Since then, Charli’s amassed 150M followers on the app, has had various brand deals with household names — her family even got an unscripted reality docuseries called “The D’Amelio Show.”

After Charli went viral for her performances of the Renegade dance, thousands of TikTok users followed her lead, danced, and attributed its popularity solely to D’Amelio. But she didn’t create it — Jalaiah Harmon, a young Black girl from Atlanta — did. Thus, Harmon’s erasure from her dance is attributed to racial bias as she’s Black and D’Amelio is White. It’s a classic case of creation without credit — and a reminder that, as a Black content creator, going viral doesn’t always mean being seen.

Harmon’s experience is just one of thousands, as many Black content creators face inequalities, from receiving credit for trends to late payments to algorithm biases.

In this post, I’ll delve deeper into some of these inequalities, share expert advice on overcoming these roadblocks from Natasha Pierre, Host of the Shine Online Podcast, and Ross Simmonds, Founder and CEO of Foundation Marketing and host of Create Like The Greats Podcast, and provide some suggestions for how you can navigate and challenge the disparities baked into the creator economy.

Table of Contents:

• Discrepancies Experienced By Black Content Creators — Key Stats [New Data]
• Discrepancies Experienced By Black Content Creators (+ Expert Thoughts)
• How can Black content creators rise above discrepancies? ( + Expert Advice)

Discrepancies Experienced By Black Content Creators — Key Stats [New Data]

As content creation through short-form social media platforms (primarily Instagram and TikTok) has become more prevalent over the past few years, Black (and Brown) creators haven’t just propelled this space forward — in a lot of ways, they’ve built it and continue to redefine it.

However, despite making massive contributions to both the social media and content creation spaces, like setting viral trends on TikTok or innovating storytelling approaches through YouTube, Black content creators seem to receive the short end of the stick when it comes to things like compensation, brand partnerships, and overall visibility across platforms; this oversight doesn’t go unnoticed. (I’ll share more on this, along with some expert insight, later on.)

If you’re interested in getting a closer look at how Black and Brown creators are disproportionally impacted by the algorithms, biases, and structures of the creator economy, take a look at some recent data from Influencer Marketing Hub’s 2025 Influencer Marketing Report:

• 58% of influencers say they’ve been discriminated against as an influencer on any social platform.

• 77% of Black influencers fall into the nano and micro-influencer tiers, with compensation from brands averaging $27,000 annually, compared to 59% of white influencers.

• Only 23% of Black influencers, compared to 41% of white influencers, make it into the macro-influencer tier.

• Nearly 22% of influencers claim discrimination based on their physical features.

Discrepancies Experienced By Black Content Creators (+ Expert Thoughts)

As I’ve previously mentioned, Black creators have sustained the content creation community and social media landscape with their labor and visions, but are often met with unfair, unjust, and inequitable treatment, whether it be through a lack of acknowledgment of their creativity or being excluded from significant monetization opportunities.

In short, Black content creators aren’t just being undervalued; there are more serious attempts at quiet erasure looming about, and it’s time folks start calling a spade a spade.

However, as the world of influencing and content creation has grown, I will say that there has been a surge of folks — some Black, others not — speaking out and advocating for better treatment of creators of color, Black ones specifically.

All of this said, I’ve listed the three most common disparities experienced by Black content creators, supported by real experiences and recent data. Have a look:

1. Pay Disparities

Black influencers are paid 35% less than White influencers. Most of the time, that means creators aren’t getting paid what they’re worth, and sometimes they’re being paid late. There’s also a lack of pay transparency, so Black creators don’t know what others are getting paid if they’re being shorted and what to negotiate for.

92% of influencers responding to MSL’s Time to Face the Influencer Pay Gap research study said that pay transparency could be the single most crucial factor in eliminating the racial pay gap in the creator economy.

2. Constant Invalidation (from Brands and So-Called Fans)

When Golloria George, one of social media’s resident Black girls in beauty, received Youthforia’s Date Night Foundation and shade-tested it against her own deep complexion for an ongoing content creation series she has on TikTok, the mass response was, to say the least, uncalled for and incredibly disheartening.

After Golloria was sent a PR package of Youthforia’s products, including the brand’s “updated” Date Night Foundation in deeper, dark skin-friendly tones, she took to her series “The Darkest Shade” to truly test the brand’s shade awareness and inclusivity.

However, after applying what appeared to be entirely jet black facepaint (although Youthforia falsely advertised its Date Night Foundation as a diverse product) and proclaiming that Youthforia had more work to do in its shade development labs, the social media sphere took to her comments and their own platforms to discredit her experience — one that could have been completely avoided if Youthforia had done the proper work to design a product that was inclusive of darker skintones to begin with.

After sharing this post, Youthforia received backlash, and its products were even removed from retailers IRL and online. While Golloria was scrutinized, bullied, and dismissed, had she not stood firm in her commitment to shade inclusivity in the beauty industry, Youthforia could have continued to profit from Black women and other women with more expansive expectations for its foundation range.

The lesson here? Even when you’re seen as a Black content creator, brands still fail to recognize the impact of your content, especially if it's rooted in diversity and visibility of marginalized groups. If you ever find yourself in a situation similar to Golloria’s, follow her playbook: Know your worth, choose peace over payment.

3. Algorithm Biases

Although algorithm biases are unconfirmed, Black creators report feeling the effects anyway. Many say their content doesn’t perform as well as other creators’, even if it is the same quality. The creator below even made light of this reality, but simultaneously, also highlighted how demoralizing it is for Black folks trying to build a platform on social media:

More notably, Black creators have noticed their content performs worse when discussing racial equality (or related topics). Check out a testament from Pariss Chandler, Founder and CEO of Black Tech Pipeline, about why this is likely happening across algorithms globally:

In a February 2025 report titled “Recommending Hate: How TikTok’s Search Engine Algorithms Reproduce Societal Bias,” The Institute for Strategic Dialogue revealed that across almost two-thirds of the videos (197) in their analysis pool, “TikTok’s search engine and recommender algorithm perpetuated harmful stereotypes.”

The study further emphasized, “this content systematically associated presumed members of marginalised groups with derogatory and violent search prompts.”

Unfortunately, algorithms probably won’t stop being biased. However, Black content creators won’t stop creating either. If it’s any consolation, here’s an empowering truth to believe as you push through the noise: Black creators and talent have always built culture — algorithms are just trying to keep up.

How can Black content creators rise above discrepancies? (+ Expert Advice)

Black creators are often left to determine and experiment with how to gain visibility in the creator economy. Additionally, tons of essential resources for success are selfishly gatekept, making it even harder for them to permeate the creator economy.

If you’re here, reading this article, you likely have many questions about how to grow your platform and receive equitable treatment as a Black (or Brown) creator. Lucky for you, I asked Ross and Natasha what they suggest you do, especially if you want to:

• Land meaningful brand partnerships without compromising your values.
• Create content that sparks impact, not just engagement.
• Get paid fairly and consistently for the content you create.

Check out their advice and words of wisdom below:

1. Build community with other Black creators.

A great way for Black creators to build themselves up is — you likely guessed it — to find and build community with other Black creators.

Here’s why: You’ll get to know other people with the same experiences, and you can use your different backgrounds to help each other out. These days, you can make this happen in a variety of ways. Here’s what I suggest to start nurturing intentional, empowering connections as a Black content creator:

• Build through brand trips/experiences (‘cause loyal followers love to see a good link-up between their favorite creators!)
• Build by using a personable social media engagement strategy (i.e., commenting on the posts of creator mutuals, collaborating with them across content, etc.)
• Build by joining online communities, groups, or digital creator collectives that center Black and Brown voices (i.e., Black Women Photographers and Black Girls Who Write, for example)

Ross also adds, “The internet is an amazing place to find other people who are creators, and you can create some amazing relationships with people in a similar world as you.” He adds, “There are a lot more people who are Black who are creating things online, so it’s easier to find someone to look up to.”

2. Show up for people in your community.

Natasha says that the simple act of showing up for people in your same groups can truly, sincerely make all the difference. “We just need to be taking up space and building our own networks and continuing to show up for our communities and advocate for your own communities as well,” she emphasizes.

When you build community connections, you can bring people up with you. Ross, similarly to Natasha, says he enjoys creating a path for others: “I want to be able to create content that helps other creators create great content and helps people see the opportunities and the potential to open doors.”

Natasha also says that if she’s asked to participate in a campaign or speaker lineup, she makes the extra effort to find out who else is involved (and if the organizers need her to recommend other creators in the category).

While these opportunities are meaningful and validating, she warns that the excitement of being invited or considered can make it easy to forget about the impact of creators’ voices and how they can support others’ careers. So if you can help someone else get into “the room where it happens,” do it.

Plus, you can’t forget a very important bonus: Having a network of creators who support, uplift, and share each other’s content can expose people to new audiences eager to follow people and consume new content. Despite what folks may argue, sometimes the biggest platform you’ll build is the one you make together.

3. Learn from others and their experiences.

Meeting your first creator milestone can feel like a long, multi-faceted, drawn-out process, but learning from other awesome influencers of color can shorten the learning curve and expand your creative toolkit.

Consume content from all different creators and learn ways to apply their strategies to your own. You’ll get exposed to so many new ideas and inputs, and what you learn can help you come up with new, unique stories nobody has told yet.

Ross says, “I always try to say that everyone can learn from every creator, even if they have a thousand followers. I get inspired by a random mommy blogger; I get inspired by a random psychologist; I’ll get inspired by a therapist on Instagram who puts up posts that are inspiring; I follow business folks … everyone.”

4. Focus on what you can control, let go of what you can’t.

Say it with me now: Sometimes, Black creators have to focus on what they can control to make progress with what’s outside their control. For instance, while you may want to partner with larger brands, it might not be possible at the stage you’re at in your creator career.

For example, Natasha notes that small brands struggle to find opportunities just as small creators do. “There are so many small brands that are doing such great things. Of course, smaller brands are going to have less budget, but when there are opportunities to partner with those smaller brands, I think that’s a way to show how things can be done differently,” she explains. By partnering with a smaller brand, you’re building your influence and community in a more attainable way.

Focusing on what you can control also means recognizing when an opportunity doesn’t align with your standards and abilities. Ross advises, “You have to focus on your circle of control … I can control the fact that I’ll probably decline if I don’t think something isn’t fair … otherwise it becomes a very draining industry and a mental tax that I don’t believe is oftentimes worth paying.”

5. Don’t be afraid, ask for what you’re worth.

For Black folks, asking for what we know we’re worth can seem scary because of the potential for rejection. I know this all too well, but here’s one piece of empowering advice that I can offer: You only know the possibilities you’re unlocking if you ask.

Ross says, “I’ve found that you will be pleasantly surprised if you do ask for what you deserve…they’re either going to say yes or no.” If they say no, they probably aren’t a brand you want to be associated with anyways. “Walk away and be okay with that,” he adds.

Your community networks can also be helpful, especially as you can ask around and see what other people are getting paid for opportunities. Ross has no shame in his game; he shares that he’s even asked before, noting, “If I know someone who’s engaged in these organizations or is also working for them, I’m not afraid to send a DM and ask people what they got paid before I give a quote, and I get clarity on what I should be offering.”

Black Content Creators: Take Up Space, On Your Own Terms

The discrepancies that Black creators in the creator economy face can seem like a never-ending, discouraging battle, but it’s not impossible to overcome.

The more people who have honest conversations about these issues and hold brands and platforms accountable, the more pressure there is actually to shift the system. Change doesn’t happen overnight, but it does happen when creators, communities, and allies commit to pushing forward together.

So, to my Black content creators: keep asking the hard questions, making stellar content, showing up with excellence, and don’t be afraid to take up space. Because if the system wasn’t built for you, that just means it’s time to build something better.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in April 2023 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.