A bunch of Twitter users, who declare themselves K-pop stans, flood the social media with posts about their favorite idols to drown out #WhiteLivesMatter tweets.
- Jun 4, 2020
AceShowbiz - K-pop fans have united for a greater cause. Making use of their power to control social media, they have shown their solidarity to the Black Lives Matter movement by fighting against racist tweets that were increasing on Twitter.
On Wednesday, June 3, #WhiteOutWednesday and #WhiteLivesMatter are trending on the blue bird application, but not for the apparent reason. Fans of K-pop stars have taken over the racists hashtags by posting GIFs and video clips of their favorite idols. Thus, upon clicking those two trending topics, people will instead find posts about South Korean performers.
"Maybe if y'all stanned bts rather than being racists," a fan of BTS (Bangtan Boys) tweeted. "Hope the white supremacists who wanted to trend this burn in hell," another ARMY, a fan of BTS, posted a clip of the group's music video along with the #WhiteLivesMatter hashtag.
"Imagine trying to trend #WhiteLivesMatter like a typical racist and Kpop fans said 'Not on my watch b***h,' " someone responded to K-pop fans' solidarity. Another reacted, "#WhiteLivesMatter LMAO I WAS READY TO INSULT THE SHIT OUT OF EVERYONE, THEN I SAW THAT K-POP STANS ARE DESTROYING THE# DAMN NEVER THOUGHT I'D BE THAT HAPPY SEEING K-POP FANCAM."
Someone else saluted the fans' effort writing, "Thank you kpop stans for your service #WhiteLivesMatter."
The K-pop fans' effort to disrupt racist comments on Twitter is in response to a campaign which first originated on the 4chan message board, which urged white supremacists to post white squares "all over social media," a reference to black squares used during the Blackout Tuesday movement.
In response to those racist tweets, one fan suggested, "HELLO KPOP TWT WHAT IF WE FLOODED ALL THE RACIST HASHTAGS W FANCAMS," before it took off. The campaign was soon broadened to include hashtags like #MAGA and #BlueLivesMatter. The fans are likely based in the U.S., as fans in Korea are less involved in Twitter, according to Variety.
