The Disaggregation of Platform Labor: Theorizing Skin Tone Work in the Black Influencer Beauty Economy

Research on the beauty influencer economy highlights the role that racism plays in platform labor, as race is a prominent determinant in the hierarchy of influencers. While the literature on beauty influencers reveals the multi-faceted labor necessary for success in the genre, less attention is given to the ways that skin tone discrimination—or colorism—defines one’s subject position as a beauty influencer. I argue that skin tone is an identity characteristic that ultimately multiplies the labor required of beauty influencers, particularly for Black women with darker complexions. The extra labor required of persons from a marginalized subject position within a marginalized population is called Racial Phenotype Labor (RPL). Due to racist beauty standards and historical disdain for African phenotypes, Black people—and Black women specifically—with phenotypic features perceived as undesirable enter the digital influencing economy at an additional disadvantage. Societal preference for lighter skin impels darker-skinned creators to complete additional physical, emotional, and mental work in the beauty influencing community. This research asserts that the first layer of RPL involves skin tone work, where beauty influencers must combat the negative preconceptions and discourses typically associated with dark skin. I also suggest that they must combat these biases while simultaneously presenting themselves as marketable to cosmetics companies, viewers, and platform algorithms. This research study uses methodological triangulation through critical technocultural discourse analysis, thematic analysis, and autoethnography to analyze the beauty content of two prominent Black influencers—both advocates against colorism. Ultimately, I conclude that colorism remains especially gendered and functions as an agent of racial capitalism within the digital influencing economy.