Lizzo Says ‘Racist And Fatphobic’ Algorithm Hurts Album Promotion

A few weeks ahead of her new album Bitch, Lizzo posted a nearly four-minute TikTok on May 13 in which she blamed social media algorithms for eroding the connection between artists and audiences. She described an industry where slashed marketing budgets force musicians to rely on platforms that serve content out of chronological order, leaving release dates invisible to the very fans who might care.

“The algorithm-based way that social media functions now is destroying the music industry,” she said, distinguishing between music culture and the business of selling records. Her argument: if feeds don’t show posts when they happen, the public never learns when an album actually arrives. She pointed to personal experience missing music from artists she follows because the algorithm didn’t surface it in time.

In the caption, she added that the algorithm is “racist and fatphobic.” The video, which acknowledged that users do curate their own feeds, also drew a line between online virality and commercial success. “There are people who are super viral whose albums just don’t sell as much as their fame,” she noted. With Bitch coming in 23 days, Lizzo’s post frames the platform logic itself as an obstacle, not a neutral tool, for an artist with her profile.