Social media has been flooded with black boxes today as protest over the police-involved death of George Floyd continue.
Posts on Facebook, Instagram and other social media show plain black boxes with messages of support for the Black Lives Matter movement. The movement is also part of “Blackout Tuesday,” a music industry effort to go quiet today.
Many of the posts include hashtags #BlackoutTuesday or #BlackOutDay2020. Some include #BlackLivesMatter, though organizers of the social media blackout are urging people not to use that hashtag to avoid flooding informational feeds with black boxes.
Another hashtag, #theshowmustbepaused, is also being used, specifically by the music industry.
The movement comes as protests – some violent – have broken out across the country after Floyd’s death. The 49-year-old Minnesota man died after police knelt on his neck for 9 minutes as he was being arrested.