Some Black TikTok creators have refused to choreograph moves to a new song in an effort to show how essential they are to the platform and demonstrate how their work is co-opted by white creators.

Megan Thee Stallions new song Thot Shit has all the trappings of a smash summer dance hit. Some of her previous hits, like Body and Savage, have been soundtracks for viral TikTok dance trends designed by Black creatives .

Yet, in the absence of captivating choreography, no viral dance has emerged since the June 11 release of Thot Shit which even outlines moves in the lyrics.

The so-called #BlackTikTokStrike isnt calling on users to leave the app or even stop posting content. Instead, some Black creators who might typically contribute their choreography for the new hit said they were sitting this one out in an effort to highlight how essential they are to the platform.

Viral compilations have since appeared online showing dance attempts from non-Black creators that have been criticized as uninspired.

Material created by Black artists has routinely been used by white TikTok users without credit. Earlier this year, Jimmy Fallon sparked an uproar when social media star Addison Rae appeared on The Tonight Show to perform a range of viral routines from TikTok without attributing the original choreographers, most of whom were people of color. Fallon later hosted the original creators in response.

In my opinion, this strike is long overdue, said Kahlil Greene, a TikTok creator and history major who was elected Yales first Black student body president in 2019, in an explainer about the strike posted on his Instagram and TikTok accounts. And its a real-time display of what the internet would look like without the creativity of Black people and specifically Black American culture driving it.

Greene, who posts videos on social media educating hundreds of thousands of followers about Black culture and history, among a range of other subjects, said Black users refusal to create a dance came in protest of being undervalued and uncredited on TikTok.