algospeak

What is algospeak? Taylor Lorenz, in a piece for the online Washington Post on 8 April 2022, defined it thusly:

“Algospeak” is becoming increasingly common across the Internet as people seek to bypass content moderation filters on social media platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Twitch.

Algospeak refers to code words or turns of phrase users have adopted in an effort to create a brand-safe lexicon that will avoid getting their posts removed or down-ranked by content moderation systems. For instance, in many online videos, it's common to say “unalive” rather than “dead,” “SA” instead of “sexual assault,” or “spicy eggplant” instead of “vibrator.”

That same day, an entry for the term was created on Urbandictionary, probably prompted by Lorenz’s article:

algospeak

Slang or codewords that arise from the need to hide from content moderation on social media. Sometimes involves using numbers or special characters instead of letters or using different words that sound similar to the intended word.

unalive is a popular algospeak word that means kill

But the term algospeak is somewhat older, and the practice is even older than the term. The oldest use of the term that I have found is on Twitter, from 13 May 2016:

All this social media algospeak reminds me of this 2011 TED talk: Beware online “filter bubbles”

One recent example of algospeak is the phrase cute winter boots, which began popping up in TikTok videos in January 2025. It’s a coded reference to resistance to the newly inaugurated second Trump administration that exploits TikTok’s algorithm preference for product-oriented content. (The app was originally developed for shopping.) For instance, one TikToker posted on 23 January 2025, “Here's some safety tips for going out in your cute winter boots. You're going to memorize your first amendment rights, because those are the rights you're exercising when you're out in your cute winter boots.”

And some uses of cute winter boots are as euphemism for firearms, as in this Urbandictionary entry from 24 January 2025:

cute winter boots

Slang for guns, specifically in the context of defending yourself from the ICE, being used on tiktok to bypass the filters.

I got myself a pair of cute winter boots to prepare for the upcoming ICE this season!
That's great! What size?
Size 22!

[ICE = US Immigration and Customs Enforcement]

Individual examples of algospeak, like cute winter boots are likely to be ephemeral as the algorithms inevitably catch on to them. (In this case, the blocking of TikTok and the coming of Spring will also impact the term’s use.) But the need for algospeak, and the term itself, is likely here to stay.

Sources:

@joylita, X.com, 13 May 2016.

Lorenz, Taylor. “Internet ‘Algospeak’ Is Changing Our Language in Real Time, from ‘Nip Nops’ to ‘le Dollar Bean.’” Washington Post (online), 8 April 2022. ProQuest Blog, Podcast, or Website.

———. “TikTok's ‘Cute Winter Boots’ Trend Explained.” Usermag.co (blog), 25 January 2025.

Urbandictionary.com, 8 April 2022, s.v. algospeak; 24 January 2025, s.v. cute winter boots.

Photo credit: Montage created by Usermag.co. The individual images are taken from videos of unknown origin, undoubtedly copyrighted by their creators, but used under fair use doctrine as single frames from videos to illustrate the topic under discussion.