With rioting in full swing across America, social media giant Twitter has made its offering to the gods of corporate wokeness, blacking out its distinctive logo and replacing its bio with the hashtag “#BlackLivesMatter.”
The Silicon Valley firm made the changes to its profile on Sunday, after five consecutive nights of protests and rioting in major cities around the US. The company didn’t immediately explain its redesign, but has already tweeted about the “long-standing racism and injustices faced by Black and Brown people on a daily basis.”
Racism does not adhere to social distancing.Amid the already growing fear and uncertainty around the pandemic, this week has again brought attention to something perhaps more pervasive: the long-standing racism and injustices faced by Black and Brown people on a daily basis. ? pic.twitter.com/8zKPlDnacY
Twitter is not the only corporate giant to side with the protest movement. Netflix boasted on Saturday that it has “a duty to our Black members, employees, creators and talent to speak up,” while Nike – already known for its social-justice oriented ad campaigns – released a video on Friday urging its customers to “be part of the change” and not “make any more excuses.”
It’s so refreshing to work at a place like Twitter during these times. I love Twitter and the woke people who fuel this place ?? pic.twitter.com/KDxK0HFEtb
The change of look at Twitter didn’t go down well with some users. With the Donald Trump administration accusing Antifa militants of hijacking the nationwide protests to instigate violence, some conservative commenters accused the social media platform of supporting “domestic terrorism,”and “fawning over the left.”
Sorry, but changing an icon is absolutely useless. Twitter needs to change its policies, man.
Even some Black activists took issue with the change, accusing the company of doing “less than nothing to get rid of doxxing & harassing white nationalists.”
For Twitter, the backlash to its woke signalling is at least contained to the online realm. Despite taking a similar stance on the protests, Nike still found its stores looted and its products stolen from multiple locations across America.
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