K-POP fans have struck again. The "Impeach Biden Now" hashtag, launched by a Republican congresswoman from the state of Georgia, has been hijacked by fans of bands like Blackpink and BTS.
From photos to GIFs to videos, all means were used to drown out the anti-Biden revolt ... so much so that the keyword topped US Twitter trends for Friday, January 22.
Originally, it was Marjorie Taylor Greene, an American politician with the Republican Party who had tried to make the "#ImpeachBidenNow" hashtag go viral on Twitter. The representative for Georgia's 14th congressional district is well known for having lent support to the QAnon far-right conspiracy theory.
On Twitter, where she counts over 289,000 followers, Marjorie Taylor Green published multiple messages with the hashtag calling for the impeachment of Joe Biden. Her posts met with minor success, sometimes attracting tens of thousands of "Likes."
#ImpeachBidenNow
— Marjorie Taylor Greene ?? (@mtgreenee) January 21, 2021
RT and make this go viral!https://t.co/QWUCfdwbWe
Her wish to see the "#ImpeachBidenNow" hashtag go viral did actually come true, but the Republican was almost certainly not expecting the kind of reaction the hashtag ended up creating on Twitter.
Instead of flooding the social network with posts calling for the impeachment of Joe Biden, K-Pop fans jumped on the hashtag and hijacked it. Thousands of messages using the "#ImpeachBidenNow" hashtag were published, accompanied by GIFs, photos or videos of K-Pop acts like BTS and Blackpink.
This trend propelled the hashtag to the top of US Twitter trends for Friday, January 22.
Me: #ImpeachBidenNow is trending? WTF?
— Erin (@3isahandful) January 22, 2021
Also me when I see it was k-pop highjacked: pic.twitter.com/DkHoj6Hq5H
Conservatives when they see KPop stans doing the good work again to ruin their hashtags #ImpeachBidenNow pic.twitter.com/cjoDv8XQvd
— 매트 - Denton K-pop Stan (@Mattrixdude) January 22, 2021
The social media activism of the kpop stans is something I've grown to love from the depths of my heart
— Dr. Jen Golbeck (@jengolbeck) January 22, 2021
They're all over #ImpeachBidenNow today and it's glorious. Here's a randomly selected kpop gif as a thank you to them (I don't know who this is, but love the dresses) pic.twitter.com/wDrtZIvWHF
Now here's a man with education #ImpeachBidenNow pic.twitter.com/dqj7TeOWhc
— Frog (@Frog_is_gay) January 22, 2021
The majority of these posts humorously criticise the hashtag decrying the new US president, while sometimes openly attacking Donald Trump. But this humour wasn't necessarily to the taste of Twitter.
While the social network permanently suspended Donald Trump's account for violating its terms of use, the platform appears to have taken similar action with some of the users who took part in the movement.
According to Variety, several user accounts that posted viral messages have been suspended. The specialist website also reports that a Twitter representative pointed to the firm's "platform manipulation and spam policy" by means of explanation.
Back in June, the K-Pop community hijacked the "#WhiteLivesMatter" hashtag, flooding Twitter with anti-racist messages accompanied by photos or GIFs of their favourite Korean artists. It proved an effective way of drowning out the most racist posts on the platform. – ETX Studio, January 26, 2021
