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Twitter Takes On Women's Empowerment With #HereWeAre

Photo: J. Merritt/Getty Images.
During the 90th Annual Academy Awards, Twitter rolled out an ad for their new and biggest campaign, #WeAreHere. Narrated by poet Denice Frohman, the commercial features big names like Ava Duvernay, Issa Rae, and Julie Dash and encourages women to continue using their voices to effect change. The theme, and the fact that it ran during the Oscars is a clear response to conversations around sexual assault and the mistreatment of women in the workplace. Thanks to hashtags like #MeToo and #TimesUp trending on Twitter, women’s activism has experienced huge reach and the social media platform clearly intends to keep that momentum going.
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#HereWeAre began trending almost immediately after the commercial aired. The official Twitter account also tweeted the video with their own statement on the issue. “We stand with women around the world to make their voices heard and their presence known. To bring them front and center, today and every day. Join us as we say #HereWeAre.”
However, Twitter’s campaign may have backfired. Some users are also using #WeAreHere to call out the platform for hypocrisy. Several people made sure to note how toxic Twitter can be for women. Some women shared their experience with Twitter support teams taking little to no action in combatting reported bullying and bigotry, which is often extremely sexist. Others simply thought this was Twitter’s response to such public criticisms.
One thing is for sure, it got people talking. But more importantly, #WeAreHere once again underscored the very important role Twitter and other social media platforms play in today’s social justice movements. Hopefully Twitter will be following up this moment with even more changes that help its female users.

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