All the “algo-Languages” of Social Networks That You Do Not Understand
If you’ve ever watched videos on social media like TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook Reels, or Twitch (that is, pretty much everyone), you may have noticed a lot of coded words and emoji that weren’t immediately decipherable. , but whose value you could output along with the correct context hints.
Similarly, if you’ve ever created content for online consumption, you know rule number one: don’t break the algorithm. The algorithms of today’s social networks are like the Wizard of Oz – disguised, all-powerful puppeteers who can seemingly work wonders for the right creators, instantly promoting their content in front of millions of eyeballs. But they are as fickle as they are promising, often trapping content in a dungeon of 53 views for no apparent reason. While the algorithms’ internal machinations are largely unknown, being blacklisted can choke your content and seal your doom – and one of the quickest ways to do this is to use language that can be flagged as a violation of the platform’s rules or terms. services.
Therefore, Internet content creators have developed a growing glossary of terms designed to bypass automatic brand security filters. This evolving lexicon of euphemisms, abbreviations, deliberate misspellings, character and emoticon insertions, known as “algo-language”, is used to mask sensitive and potentially problematic words related to polarizing political topics, controversial global events, cultural taboos, death, drugs, and just regular sex.
Here is an example of keywords from the current algorithmic language glossary that are widely represented in the new online lexicon.
Unalive: Used to describe any mention of death or suicide.
Accountant: sex worker or creator of Only Fans. (Chosen because who will ask more questions about your job after you say you’re an accountant? Nobody.)
Spicy Eggplant: Vibrator. Or, you know, another thing that looks like a flesh-colored eggplant.
P⭐️: Pornstar.
Leg booty: A phonetic reference to the LGBTQ community.
Seggs/Seggsytime: A replacement for sex.
@nal: anal.
SA: Sexual abuse.
Corn emoji: a porn replacement . Which is unfortunate given the fact that this kid went viral due to being obsessed with real corn.
Smiley sunflower: a symbol of Ukraine.
Panini/Panorama/Panda Express: Euphemisms for “pandemic” when that was all everyone was talking about in 2020 and 2021 (and algorithms flagged messages to spread potential disinformation, of which there were many).
Dance/Dinner Party : A euphemism for anti-vax Facebook groups .
Swimmers: vaccinated people.
Cornucopia: Homophobia.
Nip nops: nipples.
Yt: White people.
Saltines: Also white people. But changed as Twitch banned the left-handed creator for using the word “hacker”.
Weed: Weed.
Le Dollar Bean: Lesbian (literal text-to-speech of Le$bian, a precursor to “le Dollar Bean”).
The opposite of love: An expression used instead of the word “hate”.
Bink in lio: There are many variations of this term as a replacement for “link in bio”, used to indicate where to find more information about products featured in sponsored posts.
On the march: A euphemism for abortion, common after the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Roe v. Wade. This term was used to mean that it is still legal in your state and you will grant asylum to any woman who wishes to have an abortion. (For example, “If you need to ‘hike’, you can stop at my house for supplies.”)