How a Haitian TikToker’s meteoric rise reveals social media’s inequalities

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On Nov. 11, 2022, Kendy Auguste published the TikTok video that divided his life in two.

Before he hit “post” that morning, the Haitian English teacher based in Cap-Haïtien had about 5,000 TikTok followers, for whom he recorded quirky videos of himself rapping French phrases and their English translations.

“Ce n’est pas moi,” he sang in this day’s video, a jaunty electronic beat playing behind him. “It’s not me!”

Why We Wrote This

Social media can democratize knowledge. But when they reward influencers differently, depending on where the individuals come from, they perpetuate perceptions that ideas from some parts of the world are worth more than those from other regions.

But by some algorithmic twist of fate, that particular 10-second clip caught fire. It surged past Mr. Auguste’s normal audience, quickly racking up millions of views from delighted strangers around the world. “I’m trying to sleep, but this is stuck in my head,” one commenter wrote. “Me after eating someone else’s donut in the work cafeteria,” joked another.

Then, the earworm English lesson broke the bounds of TikTok entirely. DJs sampled “Ce n’est pas moi” in club sets. A French comedian invited Mr. Auguste to Paris to do a live show.

“That was the moment where everything began,” Mr. Auguste says.





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