A TikTok video purporting to show an airport hack is sparking online discourse about the treatment of Muslim versus white and non-Muslim travelers at airports.
A video posted on June 21 shows a TikTok creator’s bag placed ahead of a busy Transportation Security Administration line. A man traveling with Alyssa Lauren (@alyssalauren) ”throws” her bag to the front of the line so that she won’t have to carry it while waiting.
Alyssa picked her bag up later when she reached the front of the line, according to the text on the video, which had over 1.5 million views by Monday.
Carter Langston, press secretary of TSA, declined to comment on the video in an email to the Daily Dot.
Another TikTok creator, @walaa.stark, stitched the video and warned Muslims and people of color to not attempt this airport hack (Walaa did not immediately reply to the Daily Dot’s request for comment).
“It’s not a hack for people like us,” she said. “Don’t throw your bags in the middle of an airport. Just keep walking.”
In a 2019 study from the Islamophobia Studies Journal, 63% of Muslim American respondents (144 out of 226) said they experienced racial profiling or additional screenings at the airport after 9/11. Many comments under both TikTok videos echoed this same sentiment.
“I get ‘randomly searched’ enough lol,” one user said.
“They would throw us way faster on the ground than the bag we threw,” said another.
“Bro I got dragged away from my parents to check for gunpowder when I was 10 after a domestic flight,” another user commented.
Langston advised against the hack and encouraged travelers to report dangerous activity they witness at the airport. These reports, however, should not be grounded in factors such as race, ethnicity, and religion, according to the Department of Homeland Security website.
