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Black Lives Matter movement
Following the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other black Americans to causes surrounding police brutality, the BLM movement skyrocketed in popularity. This was mainly due to the video of George Floyd's death being seen across multiple platforms as well as the faces and stories of other victims. The movement mainly facilitated on Instagram with sharing the images of the victims with their stories and calling to action through posts and stories to protest. -
Russian Invasion of Ukraine
In early 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, starting an ongoing war between the two countries. To this day, footage of the war can be seen on platforms like Reddit and Facebook. Calls to help the citizens of Ukraine were posted across Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter (now X) and images of humanitarian work and calls to aid were posted on these platforms. With other conflicts going on today, this conflict doesn't see as much social media coverage due to other conflicts taking the spotlight. -
Israel v Hamas conflict
In October of 2023, an Islamist group known as Hamas attacked Israel, killing over 1,000 Israelis, many of which were citizens. In retaliation, Israel occupied the Gaza Strip where they have taken multiple Palestinians hostage or killed them. The issue proved to be divisive among supporters in the West of Palestine and supporters of Israel, which manifested on social media. On sites like Instagram and X pro-Palestinian users created posts and called to action to protest Israel. -
Luigi Magione
In December of 2024, an unidentified gunman shot and killed United Health CEO Brian Thompson in New York. Mangione was identified as the suspect in the killing. Across social media (mainly on Instagram and X) in a surprising turn of events, many came to defend Luigi's actions after he was arrested. People shared their support by sharing their stories of negative experiences with health insurance companies like United Health, and his legal defense has even raised money through social media. -
The current Immigrant situation in the US
After his election, President Donald Trump began cracking down on illegal immigration. This involved ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) deporting many undocumented immigrants. Supporters of immigration took to Instagram to post about where ICE was showing up to notify immigrant families and also provided resources to deal with the heightened deportation situation.