What does ‘big back activities’ mean on TikTok? Viral tend explained

The term ‘big back’ has taken over TikTok. Here’s what the term means, and why some users are claiming it’s problematic.

It’s no secret that TikTok is responsible for spawning the internet’s next big trend or viral fad — but the latest craze sweeping the app is sparking quite a debate among users.

Over the last month or so, the phrase ‘big back’ has become increasingly popular on the app. The term, used in African American Vernacular English, refers to folks who have a wide back, a trait usually seen on plus-sized people.

Although it can also refer to someone with an ample derriere, in this case, TikTokers are using the term to describe their eating habits, sometimes stuffing the backs of their shirts with pillows to imitate the body type of someone with a ‘big back.’

For example, one TikToker racked up nearly three million likes after recording herself heading to her kitchen with a massive bean bag stuffed underneath a blanket she’d thrown around her shoulders to make herself look bigger with the caption: “My bigbacked self when I hear a bag crinkle.”

This is just one of many videos using the trend to describe one’s eating habits… but not everyone is happy with the fad. Some users, such as TikToker Kianna, claim that petite people are body-shaming bigger folks by participating in the trend, while commenters argue that the phrase has been misappropriated from AAVE slang.

“Big back is AAVE,” one user wrote beneath Kianna’s video. “Ugh, leave our slang alone.”

“To me, big back activity stemmed from AAVE, and we were JOKING about greedy moments we had or just in general being big,” another explained. “Y’all ran out and made it deep.”

This is just the latest fad to take over TikTok after the phrase “crash out” also became popularized on the app.