From the US to Japan, countries across the world were swept with protests following the death of unarmed African-American man George Floyd while in the custody of a Caucasian police officer in Minneapolis. This has sparked both physical and online demonstrations, with hashtag #BlackLivesMatter trending worldwide since it transpired.
And it seems that the global movement has found supporters with Twitter’s loudest users: K-pop fans. While this avid side of stan Twitter usually dominates the trending topics, they’ve taken a more “V for Vendetta” turn. What’s in their arsenal? Fancams, of course. Their target? A police department’s “snitching” app.
On May 30, the Dallas Police Department asked users to report “illegal activity from the protests” using their iWatch Dallas app. In retaliation, one user said: “Download the app and send them all your fancams!!! Send them all!!! Make their jobs as hard as possible!!! Get them frustrated!!! Make them take down the app!!!”
If you have video of illegal activity from the protests and are trying to share it with @DallasPD, you can download it to our iWatch Dallas app. You can remain anonymous. @ChiefHallDPD @CityOfDallas
— Dallas Police Dept (@DallasPD) May 31, 2020
To no one’s surprise, this is exactly what happened. The app went down due to technical difficulties, flooding the app with their faves’ fancams.
K-pop stans have been lending some of their massive digital reach to #BLM. First they censored posts & stopped their faves trending in order to not distract from protest hashtags.
Now they've crashed a Dallas Police Dept app by flooding it with fancams.https://t.co/egKcini3jm
— Moya Lothian-Mclean (@mlothianmclean) June 1, 2020
Not only that, but K-pop fans have also urged their Twitter followers to avoid having their idols trend, to make way for the #BlackLivesMatter movement. So, no—while Gaga and BLACKPINK have a hot new collab with “Sour Candy,” don’t expect it to trend anytime soon.
Whether or not you live in American soil, the Black Lives Matter movement affects the world. Several petitions demanding justice for George Floyd are accessible across the internet, including Change.org, Color of Change and We Can’t Breathe.
Read more:
This art student transformed canned goods into protest statements
Panday Sining’s VR protest proves that we’re truly living in 2020
I never understood protests until I joined one
Photo from Inquirer Entertainment via The Korea Herald
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