Mediaboss Marketing

Amputee, model and body positivity advocate Jess Quinn has lashed out at ever-growing social media network TikTok for censoring disabled people because it deemed them "susceptible" to bullying.

The 27-year-old New Zealander, who lost her leg to cancer when she was nine years old, shared her message on Instagram on Thursday.

Accompanying a video of her dancing with her prosthesis and wearing a hoodie with the words "all bodies welcome here" was a stark message for the video-based social media network.

"I hear you have shadow banned videos by 'disabled, fat or LGBTQ+' users because theyre 'vulnerable to bullying if their videos reach a wide audience'," Quinn wrote.

Shadow banning is the practice by social media platforms of blocking users so it is not obvious to the user that they or their comments have been blocked.

"Well, on behalf of all of those people, the only bullying is your exclusion of people who you believe are 'vulnerable'," Quinn wrote.

"I thought Id add a little video to your app of my 'vulnerable' self, wearing a sweatshirt that says ALL BODIES WELCOME HERE, while removing one of my body parts."

More on 7NEWS.com.au

Her frustrations are due to an early edition of the app's terms and conditions, which restricted content from people "susceptible to bullying or harassment based on their physical or mental condition".

Though Quinn says this never affected her personally, she was distressed it could have.

In the video below, an explainer of what TikTok actually is

In response, TikTok has conceded it was "blunt and temporary".

"This was never designed to be a long-term solution, but rather a way to help manage a troubling trend," a spokeswoman told 7NEWS.com.au.

"While the intention was good, it became clear that the approach was wrong.

"We want TikTok to be a space where users can safely and freely express themselves, and we have long since changed the policy in favour of more nuanced anti-bullying policies and in-app protections."

A blog post on the social network's website says the user is in control of who is able to respond to their content, with blocking and reporting features available.

Quinn said the overarching goal for people with disabilities was just to be treated like anyone else.

"I thank you for your attempt at being considerate to us 'vulnerable' people but quite frankly we just want to be treated like everyone else," she wrote.

Here is the original post:
TikTok accused by amputee model of deciding who is 'vulnerable to bullying' - 7NEWS.com.au