What it means — and why social media looks different

The internet looks quite different today, which has been dubbed Blackout Tuesday.

Amid the protests over the death of George Floyd — ruled a homicide by the medical examiner — while in police custody in Minneapolis last week, an effort is underway to amplify black voices today and its being demonstrated in different ways.

It stemmed from the music industry’s call for a “pause” on June 2. Music executives Jamila Thomas and Brianna Agyemang announced an initiative called #theshowmustbepaused, to disrupt business as usual “in observance of the long-standing racism and inequality that exists from the boardroom to the boulevard.”

The movement has been adopted by music labels and artists, including Rolling Stones, Quincy Jones and Billie Eilish. And the big streaming services — including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and YouTube Music — promised a day of special playlists with moments of silence and a social media blackout.

It’s since extended beyond the music industry and has been adopted by celebrities — including Rihanna (who shut down her various companies for the day), Drake and Kylie Jenner, to name a few — as well as sports figures, corporations and regular folks. People are dedicating their social media streams to express support of the Black Lives Matters movement by posting plain black squares in their feeds or making them their profile photos on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and TikTok.

And it’s not meant to mute people. It’s a show of solidarity, but also an effort to amplify black voices, black art, the black community and organizations fighting for equality.

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For non-black people, it’s a chance to educate themselves on what is happening in the world or donate to one of the organizations.

The hashtags #BlackoutTuesday and #TheShowMustBePaused are being used when sharing. However, it’s been noted — including by Kumail Nanjiani and Lizzo — not to share using the #BlackLivesMatter tag because all the blackout pictures that are filling up feeds are obscuring important information about the cause while the protests continue.

There has been some criticism of the movement in general. Rolling Stone reported that “no one seems to know what the [music industry blackout] means” going into it because companies are executing it in different ways.

Others, like Lil Nas X, have pointed out that it’s a distraction from the movement which “needs to be pushed forward” and “not silenced for a day.”

And Emily Ratajkowski, who attended the protest over the weekend, doesn’t think posting a black square is enough. She called out people who did it to “feel good about yourself while doing the bare minimum.”

This pause all really started the day before. On Monday, ViacomCBS networks including MTV, Comedy Central, Paramount Network and Pop, went dark for 8 minutes and 46 seconds in honor of Floyd, the BLM movement and other victims of racism. That is how long the former police officer, who is now charged with murder and manslaughter, kept his knee on Floyd’s neck.

And even Nickelodeon, the popular children’s network that’s part of ViacomCBS, went off air for nearly 9 minutes. The screen went orange with a message reading, “You have the right to be seen, heard, and respected as a citizen of the world. You have the right to a world that is peaceful. You have the right to be treated with equality, regardless of the color of your skin. You have the right to be protected from harm, injustice, and hatred. You have the right to an education that prepares you to run the world. You have the right to your opinions and feelings, even if others don’t agree with them.” 

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