K-pop fans have taken Twitter by storm in a united front to troll white supremacists by co-opting the hashtag #WhiteLivesMatter, effectively drowning out the racist hashtag with their favorite K-pop images and videos. This comes at a time when many are using social media to amplify their voices and feelings over recent events.
Fresh off the heels of the much-publicized #BlackoutTuesday, in which social media and the music industry “blacked out” to commemorate the Black Lives Matter movement and justice for George Floyd, white supremacist groups attempted to counter the movement with their own hashtags. Chiefly among these was #WhiteLivesMatter.
When K-pop fans caught on to the rising hashtag, they decided to flood the Twitter waves by attaching #WhiteLivesMatter to videos of their favorite Korean pop songs and idols, effectively drowning out the racist posts with song, color, and exquisite styles. Some Twitter users actively voiced their support and allyship for Black Lives Matter, while others let their videos stand as an unspoken confusing testament for subverting racist trends. In this way, a cynical and depressing hashtag is being used as a joyful (and catchy) show of unity and love during a particularly troubling time.
Slacktivism With Consequence?
Hijacking threads is as old as the internet, but the magnitude has changed as it’s entered the international spotlight. At least one Twitter account from the hacker-activist collective Anonymous was quick to take credit for the musical protest, alleging the tweets were spearheaded from “the Anonymous K-pop division” #OpFanCam. The same Twitter account pointed to two other hashtags that were also co-opted by the same movement. Both #WhiteoutWednesday and #BlueLivesMatter saw the same influx of K-pop. Other #BlueLivesMatter troll posts celebrated blue lives, but not the ones you’re thinking of (hint: Smurfs, Grover, etc.).
Alhough it’s impossible to determine how much effect Anonymous really had on the K-pop Twitter takeover, the source of the trend doesn’t matter as much as the execution. In a time when people are struggling to find effective and meaningful ways to walk the march of progress, for better and worse a new kind of protest has emerged, one that can be summed up as organized direct action slacktivism. As more societal emphasis is placed on social media and trending topics, it’s become increasingly possible to do more without ever leaving your computer.
While likely nothing will ever replace the real power of people demonstrating in the streets, the weight of online discourse grows every day, and what people share often has direct impact. On Blackout Tuesday, the Black Lives Matter movement was met with a problem when well-meaning allies uploaded images of black squares with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. Black Lives Matter and other interested parties used the hashtag as a way to share information, which is especially critical during time of protests. By uploading the black squares with #BlackLivesMatter instead of #BlackoutTuesday, those allies were effectively drowning out the airwaves. #WhiteLivesMatter was a reactionary hashtag meant to agitate and provoke rather than share any real information, but the K-pop response had the same essential impact. The well-meaning K-pop trolls succeeded in subverting the intended message of #WhiteLivesMatter, but it also serves as a model for how a group can hijack a functional network while exerting almost no individual effort. Had it been intended as a knowledge bank, like #BlackLivesMatter, it would have effectively been stopped in its tracks.
It’s easy to dismiss events like these as being the work of trolls, but trolling is now an established part of American politics that won’t be going away anytime soon. The spotlight deserves to remain on the protesters in the streets and the activists working behind the scenes, but this K-pop takeover is a fun side attraction of drowning out hate with love. Many no longer draw a hard line between what happens on the internet and in real life, and it always helps to have an army of Twitter trolls on your side.
