TIKTOK — In March 2026, an AI-generated character named Aliyah, depicted as a light-skinned Black woman in country-western attire, appeared in TikTok videos promoting mass-produced belt buckles while claiming they were handmade. In one widely viewed video, Aliyah cried and said, "Even as a black woman, I have more faith that white women will stay 13 seconds [on this video] to save my belt buckle business."

The belt buckles sold through Aliyah’s account for $40 are identical to $9 versions available on Shein. Clues that the video was AI-generated include a robotic voice mismatched with emotional facial expressions, physically implausible sewing motions, and inconsistent tear-wiping effects. Dozens of similar TikTok accounts use nearly identical AI-generated characters, backgrounds, and scripts to promote dropshipped products like cowboy boot mugs, crochet bags, and cardigans.

Jeremy Carrasco, director of Riddance.ai, described the trend as "empathy bait." He stated, "What we’re seeing here is empathy bait. If there is a popular dropship item that could be sold to some sort of niche community, they will find it and they will try [to use] some personality to do it." Carrasco also said, "What we’re seeing right now are these retail scams where they’ll link to the Shopify websites," and noted that many of these AI-generated avatars claim to make goods or attend fairs and sometimes mimic African American vernacular in automated comment replies. He added that current AI-generated videos are "realistic enough to trick" most people and estimated his team identifies up to 100 such accounts daily.

Cienna Davis, a communications researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, defined digital blackface as "a phenomenon where non-Black individuals are able to use the internet and digital technologies to mimic Black cultural expression for personal, economic, or political gain." She stated that digital blackface is rooted in blackface minstrelsy and the legacy of slavery, based on the idea that Blackness is "inherently exploitable" and "up for grabs," and explained that these AI videos mimic "a recognizable idea of Black struggle" to extract economic value.

Tempest M. Henning, an assistant professor of philosophy at Fisk University, stated that the videos constitute digital blackface regardless of the creators’ race, because "Blackface is any kind of caricature-like portrayal of Black people, which can include Black people dressing up in a caricature-like fashion of Black people." While AI-generated avatars include Native American, Hispanic, and white women, the most viewed and engaged-with characters are Black women.