Don’t Use Black Lives Matter Hashtags in Your Posts on Tuesday
Today, social media users are posting black squares as part of a Blackout Tuesday event planned by two black music industry executives . But many people point out that by tagging these messages with #BLM or #BlackLivesMatter, people are inadvertently flooding the online space that is used to share useful information with useless black squares.
In the video, which has been retweeted thousands of times, the user has shown how the hashtag Black Lives Matter on Instagram is flooded with countless images of black squares.
Others posted similar warnings that these Blackout Tuesday posts inadvertently buried posts documenting police brutality, circulating donation links, or sharing resources for organizers.
Many social media users are asking people to stop tagging these posts with BLM-related hashtags and use #BlackoutTuesday or #TheShowMustBePaused instead. One user also pleaded with Twitter accounts to remove variations of BLM in their display names, which could muddy search results with unrelated posts.
Blackout Tuesday is a protest organized by Jamila Thomas, senior director of marketing for Atlantic Records, and Brianna Agyemang, former chief executive of Atlantic. The protest, originally titled The Show Must Be Suspended , called on the music industry to “protect and empower black communities that have made them disproportionately wealthy.”
The initiative is “designed to deliberately disrupt the work week” by encouraging artists and labels to pause self-promotion and take time to reflect on “what action we need to collectively take to support the black community.”
It is unclear when the placement of the black squares became part of the protest, but some social media users believe it is missing the point and could inadvertently silence the movement.
A number of artists and labels have expressed solidarity with the initiative and shared messages with the hashtag #TheShowMustBePaused.
Looking for ways to protect black lives? Check out this list of resources .