The Charles Dickens Museum in London is now searchable on TikTok after being ‘blocked’ on the social media platform because the English writer “has a rude word in his name”.
Located in Holborn, the museum is where Charles Dickens lived between 1837 and 1839 and wrote novels such as Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby and The Pickwick Papers.
The Charles Dickens Museum launched an account on TikTok but attempts to search for it were returning no results as the novelist’s surname includes the word ‘dick’.
People searching for the museum on TikTok were told: “This phrase may be associated with behavior or content that violates our guidelines. Promoting a safe and positive experience is TikTok’s top priority.”
In response, the Charles Dickens Museum started the #FreeDickens campaign on Twitter, where its account is visible. “We need your help,” it tweeted. “We’ve launched a TikTok, but Dickens is blocked!”
Charles Dickens now searchable on TikTok
“Charles Dickens is unsearchable because he has a rude word in his name. We’re asking you wonderful followers to share our tweets, along with #FreeDickens to show TikTok that Dickens matters,” it added.
“We’ll always support social media platforms having safeguards in place to protect users, but Dickens is a name, not slang, and the Charles Dickens Museum should be able to share great TikTok videos.”
The museum said the block is “like banning Shakespeare because his name advocates the use of medieval weapons, or Virginia Woolf for keeping wild animals as pets”.
“There once was a man called Dick,” it tweeted. “His name was short for Richard. His favourite food was spotted dick and his favourite books were by Dickens.”
TikTok is a powerful tool for attracting visitors. The Uffizi Gallery in Florence previously revealed that it doubled its number of younger guests after launching on TikTok.
