digital blackface

digital blackface (uncountable)

1. (neologism) The practice where non-black people co-opt online expressions of black imagery, slang, catchphrases, or culture, often to convey comic relief or express emotions.
   • 2002 January 17, A.J. Bowser, “BET’s ‘Cita’: Dumb or digital bamboozle?”, in New York Amsterdam News, page 23:

     In truth, the show is a farce of Black intellect, and as for the image of brazen ignorance Cita so proudly flaunts – if she is an apt representation of a silly-sassy sister – she's not the type of image Black folks should look to for “unique views,” especially when, comparatively, the computer-generated character Cita is just a case of “digital blackface.”

   • 2017 August 11, Molly Roberts, “What white people missed about FaceApp’s ‘blackface’ filters”, in The Washington Post, page A.17:

     Thankfully, it's a rare in-person performance today that features a white actor made up as a minstrel. But what some call “digital blackface” is all too common.

   • 2018 July 13, Bobbi Booker, “‘Digital blackface’ unmasks social media unease”, in Philadelphia Tribune, page 2B:

     “[W]e have the new phenomenon of Digital Blackface in the tech space,” explained Sedgrid Lewis in his article “Top 3 Types of Digital Blackface.” “Digital Blackface is the practice of non-Black people's claims of Black identity through social media sites and technology. […] ”

   • 2019 February 8, Kelly Weill, “‘Digital Blackface’: Pro-Trump Trolls Are Impersonating Black People on Twitter”, in The Daily Beast, Tech:

     “It’s a concerted effort to put on basically a digital blackface,” Shireen Mitchell, founder of Stop Online Violence Against Women told The Daily Beast. Mitchell said she’s been observing these impostor accounts since 2013, long before Trump’s ascendancy.

• vocal blackface
• blackvoice