They weren't downranked, just ensured they didn't spread too much. I wouldn't be surprised if that is how all those marginalized communities started to love TikTok, since it created all these pockets of positivity instead of spreading the same videos to everywhere and everyone where they start to face more scrutiny and downvotes. Downranked would mean that it would have a hard time everywhere even locally within their communities, but that isn't what happened.
I think they used that concept as a basis for their algorithms later, and just changing the recommendation algorithms changes the feel of the entire platform.
I think they used that concept as a basis for their algorithms later, and just changing the recommendation algorithms changes the feel of the entire platform.