digital blackface

noun

: the use by white people of digital depictions of Black or brown people or skin tones especially for the purpose of self-representation or self-expression

In 2016, the company released a Bob Marley selfie filter as part of "4/20 day" celebrations that darkened users' skin in a caricature of the reggae icon, prompting backlash from users who pointed out the lens was digital blackface.

—Suhauna Hussain

While reaction GIFs can be hilarious, when white people use GIFs of black people, it can be a form of digital blackface.

—Megan Bigelow

Examples of digital blackface in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The urgency of those concerns have already proven out, from racist algorithms wrongly landing people in jail to the many distorted abuses of digital blackface. —Jason Parham, WIRED, 21 Nov. 2024

Put simply: digital blackface is 21st-century minstrelsy. —John Blake, CNN, 26 Mar. 2023

In fact, Black feminists, Shafiqah Hudson and I’Nasah Crockett, created the hashtag #YourSlipIsShowing in 2014 to bring attention to people in digital blackface and those who create disinformation campaigns targeting Black women. —Tiwa Omolade, refinery29.com, 13 Oct. 2021

Also read his September 2020 cover story about TikTok and the evolution of digital blackface. —Wired Staff, Wired, 6 Aug. 2021

Is Sweet Brown the victim of digital blackface? —John Blake, CNN, 26 Mar. 2023

What is digital blackface? —John Blake, CNN, 26 Mar. 2023

There’s even been a concerning increase in emoji-digital blackface. —Jennifer Jolly, USA TODAY, 21 Feb. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

2013, in the meaning defined above