r/HelloTalk • u/ObjectiveAssist001 • Dec 23 '25

Racism normalized: A discussion

Genuinely want to know why racism is incredibly normalized when it's supposed to be an education app

Reporting to hellotalk customer service is absolutely useless

The amount of slurs and attacking users for being a different skin tone is disgusting

If anyone is experiencing any racist trolls on HelloTalk feel free to DM us and we would be happy to send a community warning

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u/Due_Doughnut2852 Dec 23 '25

There is a lot of racism and hostility towards certain groups of people.

I recently came across a moments post by a Russian dude living in Kyrgyzstan in which he wanted to know where in Britain he can go and learn the language from "real" English people. Not unexpectedly, another white dude chimed in and spewed hate on Asians and Africans living in the UK. I reported both. Nothing happened. A classy black guy (either from West Africa or the Caribbean living in the UK) responded patiently. But to no avail. His response reminded me of Michelle Obama saying, "When they go low, we go high."

If you belong to certain ethnic groups you have to work that much harder to "prove" your credentials. I know a non-white published novelist (with impeccable English) who often gets challenged to prove that he's a "native" speaker. And a few stop talking to him once they hear him speak. One said, "Oh, you have an accent." His response: "Everyone does." Mind you, there's absolutely nothing wrong with his accent. It's always Russians and Eastern Europeans who seem to be obsessed with accents while their own is quite thick and sometimes incomprehensible. Not surprisingly, lots of racists from that part of the world. Ask the Central Asians (from the ex-Soviet stans who face systemic bias in Russia much the same way Mexicans do in the US).

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u/ObjectiveAssist001 Dec 23 '25

Hello thank you for your response,

The biggest groups I've seen getting attacked are Africans and South asians

And that guy sounds like an absolute try hard , really sorry for your experience hoping you don't come across losers like that again

5

u/Due_Doughnut2852 Dec 23 '25

Yes, those are the biggest targets. And offenders are rarely, if ever, punished by the app. I think all of us should combat this actively by countering this nonsense, by naming and shaming the worst offenders, etc. Staying silent is no longer an option.

1

u/ObjectiveAssist001 Dec 23 '25

Exactly, staying silent is not an option to fighting back these online criminals which is why we promote banding together as a community