‘Daquan’ Instagram account owner defends against ‘Blackface’ accusation

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share via Email
• Copy Link

  Link Copied

The creator and apparent operator of the popular Instagram handle, ‘Daquan‘, is defending himself against recent accusations of digital Blackface.

The acquisition of the Instagram page by Warner Music Group has sparked a debate about cultural appropriation on Instagram. Twitter and Instagram users called the account a sham because it is partially owned by a non-Black business partner.

An old story about the business deal trended after former ESPN anchor and Black activist Jemele Hill pointed her 1.3 million followers’ attention to the acquisition, questioning the motive and legitimacy of the Instagram account.

He bought the avatar of a black teen and started creating black content, so that people would think this was coming from someone black. So it’s actually both.

— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) September 5, 2020

READ MORE: Facebook removed over 22 million hate speech posts in 2nd quarter

The Daquan Instagram page, which features a Black teen as its profile picture, has more than 15 million followers and is owned by IMGN. It is the social media company’s most successful channel.

HOW IS THE GUY BEHIND THAT DAQUAN ACCOUNT ON INSTAGRAM NOT BLACK??????????? I AM TIRED OF THE DIGITAL BLACKFACE pic.twitter.com/I5Akf9Wi7g

— Ignore me. (@theywasstalkin) September 2, 2020

IMGN Media makes memes and viral content on Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok, and the company has more than 40 million subscribers and followers across multiple pages. The company garners more than 3 billion views every month.

In 2016, a Black teenager who is Ethiopian and Canadian, sold his page to IMGN. The company did not announce any changes to the page and continued to promote stolen memes which were captioned to appeal to Black audiences between the Millennial and Gen Z demographic.

Barak Shragai has been running IMGN Media for 3 years and is the cofounder and CEO. The company, based in New York, hired a team of “content creators” to write, edit, and curate memes.

Securing its funding from American and Israeli investors, IMGN raised $6 million in capital seed ventures.

Barak Shragai sold IMGN, including Daqaun, to Warner Music Group, one of the biggest music conglomerates in the world, for $85 million, The Daily Beast reported.

$85M off digital blackface. https://t.co/liF0TZEMHe

— chris evans (@notcapnamerica) September 5, 2020

“In influencer accounts, you see the owners actually showing their face and their identities,” Shragai told The Daily Beast. “They become influencers who are publishing memes, and people are attached to their personalities. The problem when you are attaching your persona to something, to a publishing brand, is it becomes harder to scale.”

READ MORE: Vigilante calls on social media before deadly Kenosha attack

Hitting back at the online accusations, the unidentified creator of the ‘Daquan’ account (who apparently is still a part-owner) released a statement to Revolt TV:

“I’m a 23-year-old Ethiopian who lives in Calgary, Canada. There’s been false claims about me and the brand the past few days. Just want to make it clear I started the account in 2014 and I have been running it since then. The guy in the [article] photo that was spreading around is my business partner. There’s only one person behind this account and that’s me — the same person who started this in 2014.”

Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!