Media and Activism
Anaya Steward
Introduction
Although the world is changing and new technology is continuing to advance and evolve, unfortunately, there is still plenty of injustice in the world. However, since we're currently living in a digital age, the fight has shifted over to the internet in the form of videos, online discussions, Twitter threads, and hashtags. But how effective has this truly been in helping to foster change? How effective is our social media activism and when does it become performative?
What Does Social Media Activism Look Like?
Social media often means spreading awareness through educational means or a simple hashtag or inspiring actions. Over the past year alone we've seen numerous examples of this with the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement and the Stop Asian Hate movement.
Looking at increasing awareness as a means of activism first, much of this comes in the form of videos via YouTube or Tiktok explaining the situation in a short and succinct way or Twitter threads that often take longer sources and squeeze them down into a couple of paragraphs or screenshots. When the Black Lives Matter movement was making the trending page frequently in 2020, activists and influencers began circulating the Black Lives Matter carrd on their platforms. Which includes links of ways people can help and educate themselves during the movement.
After this there often comes the influx of hashtags and posts made for the sole purpose of encouraging people to look into the situation themselves. With hashtags like the well-known #BlackLivesMatter, #SayHerName, #MeToo, and #StopAsianHate being widely used across all social media platforms to show support and bring the topic onto the trending page to spread awareness and get people to look into it. Not to mention social media events such as June 2020's Blackout Tuesday in which people paused their social media posts on Instagram, posted a black square, and encouraged people to spend the day away from their usual social media content to educate themselves on black issues, police brutality and ways to help.
Then, if all this is successful, there comes action. Action on social media is either solely online or it bleeds into our everyday life. Online activism may come in the form of signing online petitions, donating to online organizations or funds, or even just reaching out to a person of interest on social media. Alexis Williams, a 19-year-old computer science major, used her skills to create a website that was a key way for activists to easily send emails and phone calls to politicians along with educating themselves beforehand. However, action can also mean organizing protests and events online, learning about ways to change one's own problematic behavior, and actually doing it.
The Good
Despite what people may think when they first hear of Social Media Activism, it has its pros. For example, it is often effective in spreading awareness. In Jessica Megarry's article Under the Watchful Eyes of Men, she speaks about how social media has increased feminist reach thanks to the increased accessibility to these feminist spaces. Megarry quotes a report from the US-based Barnard Centre for Research on Women when she says "social media has reanimated feminist activism, and enabled increasing numbers of women to 'share their stories and analysis, raise awareness and organize collective actions, and discuss difficult issues' across cultural, geographical, and generational lines" (Megarry). Using a personal example, I've learned a lot about the struggles of other groups that I would've otherwise not learned in school. I also learned just how violent our police can be. With the number of videos shown and shared from the protests, people were able to see how violently police were in response to non-violent protesters which opened a lot of people's eyes to the violence and power imbalance present from the police system. In many cases, social media is there to report atrocities that mainstream media fails to cover or censors. Not to mention the #MeToo movement in its prime was able to show people that sexual assault is frequent and more common than we think. It encouraged predators to lose their platforms and power and helped to create safer environments for women and men to discuss their experiences.
Social media is also more accessible and efficient for many people. Social media provides people who are often underrepresented or unheard a platform to share their opinions. It also can create spaces for people to discuss their issues and organize change in their own communities. Jordan Fullam's Becoming a Youth Activist in the Internet Age follows the case of a 17-year-old named Justin who used social media to organize a walkout at his school. Showing how social media can help with the mass mobilization of a group and make organizing such protests more efficient (Fullam). A personal example I have would be a young girl in my neighborhood using Facebook to organize a Black Lives Matter protest in our own neighborhood. The local police even attended and there was no violence on either side.
It also provides a place for discussion. As I mentioned before, the #MeToo movement provided a way for women to safely share their experiences with sexual assault. Social media has also helped people discuss their experiences with racism and homophobia creating more activists in the process now that they've had a place to talk to people they may not have the chance to talk to in real life.
The Bad
However, as one might expect, social media activism comes with its downsides. Many of those downsides being the lack of regulation or improper regulation which often breeds bad situations or online environments.
The most common issue has been false information. Social media is notorious for false information and claims. This comes in the form of genuine poorly researched information, propaganda, fake sources, or conspiracies. Whatever form they take place in however they're just as harmful to activism.
Social media also makes people vulnerable. When people go online and voice their opinion, people are bound to disagree which could result in a strong reaction. Many online activists have found themselves, victims of harassment, having their personal information targetted and leaked, or having their efforts to organize and spread awareness undermined. Megarry speaks about this a lot. Since most feminist organizing and discussion takes place online, it is easier for anti-feminists to target these groups and activists. Many feminists have been pushed to shut down their accounts due to threats, personal information leaked, and explicit content sent to them (Megarry). And while many platforms allow private groups, it is not hard to impersonate people. Megarry speaks of another incident in which men pretended to be lesbians in order to infiltrate feminists/lesbian groups online (Megarry). In some cases, activists find themselves censored either because of the platform itself or as a result of being mass reported by people who oppose their cause. In many ways, social media punishes activists.
Then of course there's the biggest problem which is the lack of genuine action. People sometimes only participate in social media activism for likes and due to pressure from fans. Not to mention, influencers with large fanbases are often forced to speak out on issues they are not educated enough for and it ends in disaster. Spreading awareness is great but it is only one step. Plenty of social media "activists" were called out for not practicing what they preach and a myriad of influencers were called out for treating the Black Lives Matter protests as parties and photoshoots. Fullam even speaks about Justin's walkout and how some students simply treated it as a way of skipping class (Fullam). At the end of the day, though, if you genuinely care about the causes you go online and claim to support, you'll create real change and not just post hashtags online.
Conclusion
Social media activism is effective in many ways. However, in order for it to be truly impactful, it must be paired with actual research and/or actual action. Online activism should absolutely find its way until your real life in some form. It should never be your only option for activism. If it is more accessible then, yes, it can be a primary source for it, but I would encourage trying to do more with it, such as organizing or finding ways to help. Always check for credibility and be cautious before joining groups or donating to a cause. Online activism is effective as long as you do it right.