Artists gripe about the algorithm

A BerryVerrine post about being ignored by “the algorithm” broke out across X and turned a private artist complaint into a public meme. (x.com) Know Your Meme traces the phrase “My art is good, the algorithm just ignores me” to X posts in late July 2025, then says the format spread to other artists and to indie game developers using “My game is good.” (knowyourmeme.com) BerryVerrine is not an unknown hobbyist suddenly surfacing from nowhere. Pixiv lists the illustrator as a Japanese artist with published work, and Pixivision says BerryVerrine released the art book *SPECTRUM* in 2022 after years of commercial illustration. (pixiv.net, pixivision.net) The complaint landed in an internet economy where creators are judged by recommendation systems they cannot fully inspect. YouTube says its recommendation system is built to surface videos a viewer is most likely to watch and find satisfying, while TikTok says its “For You” feed ranks videos using signals including user interactions, video information and device settings. (support.google.com, newsroom.tiktok.com) X is unusually open about that machinery compared with most rivals. Its public code repository says the recommendation algorithm serves the “For You” timeline and other surfaces, giving creators a rare look at how one major platform scores and distributes posts. (github.com) Instagram has moved in the opposite direction for most users: heavy personalization with limited outside visibility into ranking. Meta said in November 2024 that Instagram would add a “recommendations reset,” and noted that users can switch to a Following feed that shows posts from followed accounts in chronological order. (about.fb.com) That gap between effort and distribution has been a recurring grievance for working artists, especially illustrators who post finished images on platforms now tilted toward short video, repost velocity and repeat engagement. BerryVerrine’s meme gave that grievance a short, reusable sentence that other artists could paste onto their own work. (knowyourmeme.com, pixivision.net) The meme also spread because it worked as both sincerity and parody. Know Your Meme documents earnest artist posts, game-developer variations and joke versions that paired the caption with deliberately absurd or bad work. (knowyourmeme.com) What the format does not settle is the argument underneath it. Platforms say recommendation systems are trying to match users with content they will value, but artists keep using the meme to say that quality and visibility are still not the same thing. (support.google.com, newsroom.tiktok.com, github.com)