TikTok will no longer censor 'Asian women' in its automatic captions

TikTok no longer considers "Asian women" a dirty phrase. The video sharing app has fixed an issue that censored the term in its automatic captions, saying that it was an "error."

TikTok introduced automatic captions in early April, testing it in the U.S. and Japan with the intent to eventually roll it out more widely. This helpful new feature automatically detects and transcribes what video creators are saying, providing captions they can then review and edit for accuracy. Captions are a vital accessibility tool for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, and are also generally appreciated by anyone scrolling through their For You page without earbuds.

However, TikTok users soon noticed the automatic captions making questionable calls regarding the words it considered inappropriate. While the phrases "white men", "white women", "Black men", "Black women", and "Asian men" all passed TikTok's language filter with no problems, the phrase "Asian women" did not. Instead, TikTok's automatic captions censored the phrase so it appeared as "a**** w****."

The issue was fixed and "Asian women" uncensored earlier this week after TikTok was made aware of the problem. It's unclear when the issue began, but the auto caption feature has been available since April 6. TikTok says it was fixed within hours of them being notified on April 26.

"We care deeply about supporting and elevating underrepresented groups on TikTok and worked quickly to resolve this error," a TikTok spokesperson told Mashable.

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The fix means you won't be able to replicate the issue in any new videos you create, and it won't be a problem when captions are rolled out in more countries. However, videos captioned before the fix are still censored. (The phrase "Asian woman," singular, was never censored.)

TikTok's censorship of "Asian women" is particularly unfortunate in light of the current surge in anti-Asian hate crimes. Advocacy group Stop AAPI Hate documented 503 hate incidents against Asian people in the U.S. during the first two months of 2021, with violence against Asians being stoked by racist rhetoric surrounding the coronavirus pandemic. The actual number of anti-Asian hate crimes is believed to be significantly higher, as incidents often go unreported.

Asian women are also uniquely vulnerable to such violence, as they are highly sexualised and fetishised. In March, six Asian women were among eight killed in the Atlanta massage parlor mass shootings. Several TikTok users have speculated that such sexual connotations imposed upon Asian women may be the reason why the app censored the phrase.

TikTok currently has a resource page linking to information on how to support the Asian American community.

This isn't the first time tech companies have censored the term "Asian." In March, Apple updated its iOS 14.5 Beta so that web searches containing the word "Asian" were no longer blocked by its adult content filter — an issue that had persisted for over a year. Fortunately, TikTok was a bit quicker to fix the problem.

UPDATE: April 30, 2021, 8:53 a.m. AEST This post has been updated to clarify when TikTok learned of the issue.

Related Video: How allies can step up for the Asian American community