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George Floyd Protests and BLM
The George Floyd video was posted on Facebook and went viral on the site. Then, hashtags went viral on Instagram such as #TheShowMustBePaused, #BlackOutTuesday, and #BlackLivesMatter (the later which was already a popularly used hashtag. Users would post completely black pictures on #BlackOutTuesday to demonstrate their support for the cause and the protests. -
Storming the Capitol
Twitter (now X) and Facebook were sites that were used to plan the Capitol Riot on January 6, 2021. Those who participated in the riot were given advice on how to proceed efficiently on those sites through Twitter threads and Facebook groups. -
Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard Trial
This event got so much attraction that every single person wanted to talk about it. Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube had influencers who posted a ton about the trial. They had videos and pictures, edited to be more humorous or dramatic, making the event become so much bigger. -
Israel vs Palestine
A lot of forms of social media were used to inform us about this event, but a lot of people on specifically Instagram and TikTok (more TikTok) would post videos supporting Palestine more than Israel. I also saw videos on Instagram of people supposedly from Palestine, asking for people to "press the link in the bio" to support and give aid. I also saw people post on their story, to say they were supporting Palestine instead of Israel. -
TikTok Ban
Even though the the possibility of banning TikTok was originally introduced in 2020, it became an even bigger worry in 2024. People rallied onto the site and eventually, the narrative was that the ban was happening because the US government wanted to control the flow of information on social media, which would be harder to control on an app that was controlled by another country.