Instagram Introduces New Tag Feature, Benefitting Black Content Creators

By Paige Boyd, Managing Editor

This week, Instagram introduced a new feature, enhancing the existing tag feature to make it easier for content creators, specifically marginalized content creators, to receive credit for their work.

In a statement, the social networking app said, "As creators collaborate, inspire each other and drive culture forward on Instagram, proper crediting has never been more important. This is especially crucial for marginalized and underrepresented creators and collaborators whose contributions are often behind the scenes. Today, we’re launching enhanced tags on Instagram to make it easier for creators to receive credit for their work.”

Created by data analysts and engineers Alexis Michelle Adjei and Cameryn Boyd, the feature was created to ensure that Black creators would have a sufficient way to earn a living with the content they create on the platform. This is a major first step in correcting an ongoing problem throughout social media, where credit is often given to White content creators for viral content that is originally created by Black people.

Case in point: You may remember the "Renegade" dance that went viral in 2019. The creator was then-14-year-old Jalaiah Harmon, who posted the dance back in September 2019. However, when the dance went viral, it would be popular TikTok star Charli D'Amelio, who is White, that would be initially credited...despite the fact that she posted her version one month AFTER Jalaiah's version. It wasn't until the New York Times posted an article about the dance's origins that Jalaiah started getting credit as the originator of the dance.

Needless to say, Instagram's new feature came right on time. Here's their official statement in full:

"As creators collaborate, inspire each other and drive culture forward on Instagram, proper crediting has never been more important. This is especially crucial for marginalized and underrepresented creators and collaborators whose contributions are often behind the scenes. Today, we’re launching enhanced tags on Instagram to make it easier for creators to receive credit for their work.

Proper creative credit and recognition is a starting point for discovery, new opportunities and economic empowerment. For many Black and underrepresented creators, crediting is an entryway to building a sustainable career as a creator, while combating cultural appropriation and ensuring the world knows who is driving culture.

In recent years, the Instagram community has come together to support creators and have found alternative ways to credit each other, such as tagging one another in captions and photos, so we’re bringing this feature to our product. Enhanced tags allow a creator's self-designated profile category on their professional accounts to be displayed in their People Tag, so that people can share and view a creator's specific contribution to a photo or video post. Simply put—if you’re a makeup artist, songwriter or other significant collaborator on a post, your contributions will be more visible in the post."