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what is online activism

In this digital network is constantly updated and developed and improved. The role of the Internet is no longer just a platform for exchanging or querying information. It is a platform that can unite the power of the people at a critical time. In my opinion, online activism means that when some unfair or controversial events occur, some people will come forward to defend justice. For example, a respectable and wealthy person killed an innocent person, but was acquitted by the court. Then there will be some people fighting for justice for the dead person. They will call everyone on the Internet to find the motive of the murderer. These people who fight for justice on the Internet are online activism.

In fact, many of us feel that when you sit in front of a computer and have only a keyboard in your hand, you will not get help in getting justice on the Internet. But they were wrong. The Internet is a good platform for exposing the truth. Because the current society is actually a society dependent on the network to operate. For some celebrities or wealthy people, the Internet is a good way to monetize traffic. So most of them will advertise or market themselves on the Internet. So when we need to expose some negative information about celebrities or wealthy people, the Internet is the best platform. Because the Internet will quickly ferment this information. Therefore, any of our words, deeds or justice actions on the Internet are of great significance. Because when everyone’s power is assembled, a stronger force of justice will burst out.

The online activism example I found was about black lives matter. In Max Lewontin’s article, Five times Internet activism made a difference, it is mentioned that in order to call for widespread attention to anti-black racism and police violence, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi, an immigrant rights activist who are committed to prison reform, established Twitter and Tumblr. Account and use blacklivesmatter as the hashtag (Max Lewontin, 2016). This is a typical online activism, through the power of the Internet, and with the help of some social media, let everyone pay attention to some controversial government or public officials behavior. This approach is actually a very wise way of delivering justice. Only when the public understands and supports justice, the government may feel pressure and eventually compromise.

Reference: Lewontin, M. (2016). Five times Internet activism made a difference. Retrieved from https://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/2016/0105/Five-times-Internet-activism-made-a-difference/Arab-Spring