Charlie Puth drags 'black boxes' posts, says it encourages white silence

[Aphrodizy26 6]

the black boxes with the black lives matter hashtag are masking all of the Actual evidence we receive under the hashtag 

[Aphrodizy26 6]

Just now, Aphrodizy26 said:

the black boxes with the black lives matter hashtag are masking all of the Actual evidence we receive under the hashtag 

Ive seen ppl i know of that never engage in politics and i think the black boxes are being used as a means of silencing black ppl/blm

[HEARTSTOP 3,109]

1 minute ago, Aphrodizy26 said:

Ive seen ppl i know of that never engage in politics and i think the black boxes are being used as a means of silencing black ppl/blm

that's why they should use #blackouttuesday instead...

[Zander 14,817]

3 hours ago, Gracious Gaga said:

He doesn’t get it. 
believe it or not- these black boxes speak VOLUMES when everyone is participating.  It is a sign of unity.  And it’s just for ONE DAY. get over it. Tomorrow you can go back to posting whatever you want.

but today is a moment of SILENCE for the lives lost.

Feeding black squares to the Instagram algorithm for 24 hours... that’s not smart. Due to the algorithm these posts clog up timelines and feeds and push the actual important activism posts down. These hashtags are meant to document protests and ongoing police brutality, even the posts that aren’t hash tagged and feature on your own feed from people you follow are still pushing down posts from people who might be documenting and posting important information. These black squares are taking up black voices.

[BillieGOAT 4,867]

Is it really his place to say what people should be doing to support the BLM movement though 🤔

Good intentions don’t always excuse messaging

[Brecht 7]

2 hours ago, RahrahWitch said:

I get how some people are seeing it come across that way but it's not just the box, It's also people collectively agreeing to not post anything at all to give the BLM Movement as much social media attention as it can.

It's just one method. People who are just posting and that's it, Yes that's doing the absolute bare minimum and that's a problem but many are using it as a sign of solidarity, giving attention to the movement while also helping in other ways.

Ok but my IG timeline is just black boxes and no information whatsoever. It makes no sense to flood the timeline with the same thing, how the hell are we supposed to see important information if it all gets lost?

[Ally Campana 15,284]

I agree with him. Especially when many people used the hashtag ‘#BlackLivesMatter’ instead of ‘#BlackOutTuesday’ for it and now instead of updates about the protests, when you click on the BLM hashtag, it’s full of black boxes. Who comes up with this sh*t? Posting donation links instead of a black box would’ve helped so much more just like some suggested. But yeah, people are dumb. Wbk.

[BangTheGong 310]

It’s just a day. The purpose to is make room for black voices, ideas, art and information. We as a collective are pausing our own individual art and content to help amplify the the voices/art of black people. It’s a day of education and reflection started by 2 black women in the music industry. 

[Auro 1,797]

This is why people are mad about the black box tactic that people are using:

 

[KORG 4,756]

He's right.

Even the ice bucket challenge spoke more about the issue.

It's like I've said. This is lip service.

[Cody James 1,349]

Who is she again?

[Archduchess 2]

[homomart 266]

He’s completely in the right and a majority of the people down my TL rn are very annoyed at the black boxes. They are performative. They don’t do anything but make you look good and silence right now should NOT be an option. We don’t get a day of silence until all of this is over.

[Mitchey 839]

Blacking out your social media for 24hrs is NOT SILENCE. It speaks VOLUMES. Imagine thinking a movement is a “trend” stfu. Just don’t use hashtags. 

[Jose P 23,341]

I get his point. I know many people doing it are truly wanting to help and have good intentions, but a lot of this black box posting feels so performative. But I mean it’s social media, social media activism is mostly performative and a lot of times disingenuous. This just seems to me like something to save face and make yourself look good, like “hey look, I’m not racist, look at me supporting!”