If you didn’t think you could use a dating
app or a video game to protest against systemic racial injustice – think again. Digital activism #BlackLivesMatter In the last two weeks we have seen #BlackLivesMatter
flood social media. Lots of posts have shared images of physical protests around the world
- but in the middle of a global pandemic that’s keeping many indoors, people are also finding
new ways of demonstrating solidarity from the comfort of their screens. DANIELLE: The Black Lives Matter
rally that
I organised allowed Simmers across the world - so we’re talking Korea, Germany, the US,
Brazil, all over the world - to use their creativity as well as their voices to stand
together against racism in all forms as well as police brutality. DAKOTA: I gained some speed there, people
were donating. I’d have them send me an icloud photo or send screenshots to me over
snapchat because you can’t send photos over Tinder. I really have been floored by the positivity. Sophia: Both Danielle an
d Dakota shared their
activism via online video. Whether it’s a 5 hour long livestream or a 15 second TikTok
- more and more people are doing it. KUBI: I think that generally speaking video
content is the thing that’s propelled the BLM movement internationally and it’s also the
thing that has horrified us the most but the truth of the matter is that what's happening is not new,
it’s just now that people can capture it and put it on tiktoks and instagram. We’ve seen a rise in algorithmic activism
- users on platforms like TikTok are using engagement strategies to try and catapult
content onto other people’s feeds such as commenting and sharing the link. Some have mobilised to game hashtags working
towards counter-movements to make sure Black Lives Matter content still reigns - including
Kpop fans. IKRAN: Whenever there was a controversial hashtag such as White Lives matter, people decided to post
fancams on the White Lives Matter and White Out Tuesday hashtags, to confuse people who wer
e using their hashtags. Beyond algorithmic activism, we’re also
seeing innovative ways of accruing donations - such as persuading users to watch YouTube
videos so that their advertising revenue can be contributed to things like bail funds. But how does big tech handle so many of its
users suddenly turning into activists? Tinder has had to apologise for banning some users
who promoted Black Lives Matter on their profiles. TikTok has come under fire for an algorithm
that has allegedly suppressed t
he visibility of black creators. It’s since made promises
to improve its moderation strategies and create a diversity council - but for many, this has
been a fortnight of traumatic online content, online racist abuse, and even possibly being banned or blocked by the
very platforms they were trying to spread their message on. SEYI: What I want to see from tech companies
is move away from design by profit and design by safety. That’s a fundamental framework
that will mean we're looking at involvin
g all users and making sure they're safe and included. SEYI: It’s not about beating ourselves up
but it’s about incorporating tech accountability in our messages when we’re calling for systematic
reform. HELEN: Online activism
hasn’t been going on for very long – we’re talking 10 years. So as we reach a more mature activism, you see a much more organised approach to things like Black Lives Matter for example, has become organised. So we're bound to see that with activism of all kinds -- that it
will start to catch up with itself, in terms of organisation,
and fitting into the existing institutional landscape. Whatever the social movement, and whatever
the social media - digital activism is going to continue to grow. Sure, a lot of people are using social media to facilitate physical protests - but the pandemic is showing us
that online activism can be just as important as offline protest. KUBI: My granny who is the daughter of a Scottish
slavemaster and a black Caribbean slave used to
say to me all the time before she died
- each one of us need to put our tiny little drop in the ocean. And when we put our tiny
drops in the ocean, if enough of us put a tiny drop in we create a ripple. And a ripple creates
a wave and a wave creates a tidal wave. Every single activism counts. Whether it’s
just one black square, one Zoom protest or a million marches. Whether your activism is
in the boardroom questioning your organisation’s policy on race or gender discrimination or
whether your
activism is conversations with your friends about white privilege. It all
matters and we need all of it in order to make real sustainable change.
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