⏰ How TikTok Is Changing Our Language ⏰

QUEER WORD
ALGOSPEAK

What it means: the coded language people use online to avoid triggering social media algorithms that might suppress, flag, or delete their content.

It’s especially common among creators discussing sensitive or taboo topics—like sexuality, mental health, or politics—where certain words or phrases might be misunderstood as inappropriate or explicit by automated moderation systems.

Let’s use it in a sentence: Carmela had to use algospeak in her video about LGBTQIA+ history because the platform kept flagging her content as inappropriate.

A little bit of history: It’s all been a bit will-they-won’t-they-did-they-or-didn’t-they this week when it comes to the US TikTok ban.

And though TikTok is back for the time being, its long-term future in the U.S. remains kind of unclear.

But this brief disruption feels like the perfect moment to pause and recognise just how much the social media giant is influencing the way we talk and think.

Maybe that’s not fair.

After all, ALL social media networks deploy sneaky tactics to keep us scrolling, commenting, and enthusiastically tapping their like (or dislike) button. But TikTok seems to have really taken it to another level by creating a platform where trends and new words come and go at breakneck speed.

And what’s the thing driving all these changes?

Why, it's those clever, sneaky algorithms.

Now, I’m not one of those people who thinks that the algorithms are inherently evil. Sure, I find it a bit creepy when I talk about needing new shoes at 2pm, and then start seeing nothing but shoe ads in my feed from 3pm, but I get the logic - algorithms exist to make our experiences more tailored and enjoyable (oh, and to sell us more crap that we don’t actually need).

And, on a practical level, algorithms also help moderate content. Advertisers typically avoid platforms overrun with hate speech, death threats, or explicit material (at least they have up until now), but it’s impossible for any large social media company to manually review every post their users publish.

This is where the algorithm comes in, sifting through the endless stream of content, and flagging anything that might violate community guidelines or scare off advertisers.

Simple, right?

Well, not quite.

Here’s where it gets a bit messy. In their attempts to moderate, TikTok and other social media platforms often end up suppressing innocuous content too.

This problem is especially pronounced for the queer community. Words that are perfectly normal within our spaces—like ‘gay’, for instance —are often flagged as explicit or inappropriate by automated systems.

This can have huge consequences. The algorithm decides what content gets seen and what gets buried, which means that queer creators often have to fight harder than others to ensure their work reaches an audience.

So, what’s a creative, resourceful online queer to do?

Well, they adapt, finding clever ways to outsmart the algorithm.

Words like ‘dead’ become ‘unalive,’ and ‘sex’ becomes ‘seggs.’ This coded language, dubbed algospeak, has become so prevalent that it’s morphing in to a whole dialect of its own.

Let’s take a look at some of the more common terms and what they mean:

• Seggs: A misspelling of 'sex', used to get around censorship

• Le$bian / Le Dollar Bean: Initially creators were replacing the S in lesbian, but the whole thing evolved after TikTok's text-to-speech feature hilariously pronounced it as Le Dollar Bean

• Corn: A workaround for ‘porn.’ Bonus: you can also use 🌽

• Leg Booty: A simple play on ‘LGBT’ - LeG BooTy.

• Mascara: Rhyme for ‘sexual partner’

• Shmex: A variation of ‘sex.’

• Cornucopia: A creative workaround for ‘homophobia.’

• Nip Nops: A silly way to say ‘nipples.’

• Pew Pew: A way to talk about ‘guns.’​

I simultaneously love and hate this phenomenon. I hate that there's a need for coded language, that corporate platforms aren't considering all users.

But I absolutely love the creativity—the refusal to be silenced, the way queer creators continuously find solutions and make language their own.

This is resilience in action. This is queer culture.