Anonymous K-pop division drowns #BlueLivesMatter trend with Sonic the Hedgehog and Avatar memes
After successfully crashing the Dallas Police's iWatch Dallas app, which allows people to anonymously upload photos and videos of criminal activity, K-Pop fans are now focusing their energies on taking down the 'Blue Lives Matter' campaign on Twitter, at the request of the popular hacktivist group, Anonymous, which surfaced once again after the tragic death of African-American man George Floyd on May 25 due to police brutality. "Our Anonymous K-Pop division is now attacking the #BlueLivesMatter hashtag. Calling on all #OpFanCam troops to flood the police hashtag with Fan Cams. (@fabriqueparmoi) #Anonymous #ICantBreathe #GeorgeFloyd #BlackLivesMatter," Anonymous tweeted on June 3.
The hashtag "Blue Lives Matter" quickly became one of the top trends on Twitter after the death of retired St. Louis police captain David Horn at the hands of Floyd protesters and other police officers being attacked around the nation by rioters. While President Donald Trump condemned the violent protests and threatened to unleash Martial Law on them, he drew people's attention to Horn's death. "Our highest respect to the family of David Dorn, a Great Police Captain from St. Louis, who was viciously shot and killed by despicable looters last night. We honor our police officers, perhaps more than ever before. Thank you!" he tweeted.
"Blue Lives Matter" also began trending after police officers in Cincinnati, Ohio stoked the tensions with protesters by raising a Blue Lives Matter flag on Monday, June 1 after a police officer in the city had been shot during the week’s protests.
The call to the K-Pop fans by Anonymous, who has attacked both Trump and his administration in the past, seems to be working as the top tweets under the "Blue Lives Matter" trend on Twitter seems to be full of memes of blue animated characters from movies, shows, and video games such as Smurfs, Sonic the Hedgehog, Oswald and characters from 'Avatar.' Although it has to be said that it cannot be verified that the memes in question were posted by K-Pop fans as their trademark style is to flood Twitter campaigns with “fancams” clips of Korean stars performing that often focus on a single band member, most of which are omnipresent on social media.
After the Dallas Police Department tweeted on Sunday, "If you have video of illegal activity from the protests and are trying to share it with @DallasPD, you can download it to our iWatch Dallas app. You can remain anonymous. @ChiefHallDPD @CityOfDallas," a user responded, “I got a video for you,” tweeting a clip of South Korean pop star Taemin singing and dancing. Soon thousands of others followed suit, downloading the app and flooding it with K-Pop clips.
After the app was overwhelmed with junk videos, the Dallas police were forced to tweet, "Due to technical difficulties iWatch Dallas app will be down temporarily.” The app was also heavily rated and reviewed within a short period of time, most of which were in a negative light. It was believed that K-Pop fans had a hand to play in posting the ratings and reviews too.
According to Dallas News, the police held a press conference on Monday where they admitted to a “temporary interruption in service with its iWatchDallas app,” but said that the “cause is still being determined.” The app is reportedly up and running now.