Why #HereWeAre Was Trending On Twitter During Oscars

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.”

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 pic.twitter.com/cN2Ik6bZU8
— Twitter (@Twitter) March 4, 2018

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.

That @Twitter commercial was powerful, but also feels odd considering that I spent this past weekend being harassed by misogynist fat-shaming trolls, only be told that the Tweets didn’t violate their standards. Do better, Twitter, where it matters. #HereWeAre
— Rebecca Krevat (@RebeccaKrevat) March 5, 2018

How about you spend the money you used on this ad to hire moderators to kick accounts that terrorize women off your platform?

How about you hire more engineers who aren’t men to build your platform so that you don’t have giant blind spots putting users at risk? #HereWeAre https://t.co/RBDtfYkKQY
— ella dawson (@brosandprose) March 5, 2018

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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