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TECHNOLOGY Tuesday 9 June 2020
How messaging technology is helping fuel global protests

By BARBARA ORTUTAY and active online, urging other
AMANDA SEITZ white supremacists to take
Associated Press full advantage of the mo-
When a friend shared a ment." In one Telegram
Facebook post with Mi- channel, the ADL found,
chelle Burris inviting her to participants suggested
protest in downtown Wash- murdering protesters, then
ington, D.C., last Saturday, spreading rumors to blame
she knew she had to go. So the deaths on police snip-
she bought a Black Lives ers. Others want to further
Matter mask from a street exacerbate racial tensions.
vendor before march- "Good time to stroke race
ing the streets of the dis- relations" and "post black
trict with a "No Justice, No live's don't matter stick-
Peace" sign. ers," a user posted — with
After that march ended, misspellings — to the Re-
she pulled up details on In- formthestates Telegram
stagram for a car caravan channel, according to the
demonstration just a few ADL.q
blocks away. "It was ex-
tremely powerful, not only
Facebook but Instagram,"
Burris said. "It was very easy
to mobilize."
Protesters are using a vari-
ety of technology tools to
organize rallies, record po- Anjel Newmann, 32, kneels while scanning her phone during a peaceful rally in Providence, R.I.
on Friday, June 5.
lice violence and commu- Associated Press
nicate during the marches
sweeping the U.S. and man, who's been to three the protests grew from just day. Anderson, who is bira-
other countries following protests in Atlanta and has under 300 subscribers on cial, said he downloaded
the death of George Floyd. used Instagram exclusively Monday to nearly 2,500 by the encrypted Signal app
Some of that involves se- to locate and to document Friday. During a peaceful several days earlier at the
cure messaging services the demonstrations she at- rally in Providence, Rhode request of his mom. "She's a
like WhatsApp, Signal and tended. But she said she Island, on Friday, Anjel New- black woman in America,"
Telegram, which can en- feels that, at this point, "the mann, 32, said that while he said, worried about his
crypt messages to thwart benefits of Instagram out- she's mostly using Instagram safety and eager to grasp
spies. Those apps, along weigh not using it." and Facebook to organize, any additional measure of
with others for listening to Half a century ago dur- younger people are using security she could.
police scanners and re- ing the civil rights protests, Snapchat. The main prob- Meanwhile, apps like Po-
cording video, are enjoy- Jones said, it was almost lem: It's hard to tell which lice Scanner and 5-0 Police
ing an uptick in popularity. impossible to know what online flyers are legitimate. Scanner, which allow any-
But experts say conve- was going on during a pro- "That's one of the things we one to listen to live police
nience and reach are key. test. "There was a lot of ru- haven't figured out yet," dispatch chatter — and
"Reaching as many people mor, a lot of hearsay," he she said. "There was a flyer may be illegal in some
as possible is the number said. "Now you can reach going around saying this states — racked up 213,000
one criterion for which plat- everyone almost instanta- was canceled today." downloads over the week-
form someone is going to neously." The simplicity of shooting end, Apptopia said. That is
use," said Steve Jones, a Wildman said she uses Ins- and sharing video has also 125% more than the week-
University of Illinois at Chi- tagram's "live" function to made possible recordings end before and a record
cago media researcher find out what is happening of violence that can spread for the category. Citizen,
who studies communica- during protests, especially to millions within moments. which sends real-time alerts
tion technology. when protesters in the back A smartphone video of and lets users post live vid-
That means Twitter, Face- might not know what's hap- Floyd's death helped spark eo of protests and crime
book and Facebook- pening at the front. At one, the broad outrage that led scenes, was downloaded
owned Instagram remain she said, people started to the protests. 49,000 times.
the easiest ways for people yelling that police were us- Apps like Signal are seeing On the down side, the Anti-
to organize and docu- ing tear gas — but it wasn't an uptick in downloads ac- Defamation League's Cen-
ment the mass protests. true, which she learned by cording to Apptopia, which ter on Extremism said in a
Facebook's tools remain checking Instagram. tracks such data. Signal blog post this week that it
popular despite a barrage Organizers are also using was downloaded 37,000 has found white national-
of criticism over the plat- Telegram, an app that al- times over the weekend in ists using Telegram to try
form's inaction after Presi- lows private messages to the U.S., it said, more than to wreak havoc during the
dent Donald Trump posted be sent to thousands of at any other point since it protests.
a message that suggested people at once, creating launched in 2014. Other pri- "Some, especially those in
protesters in Minneapolis channels for specific cities vate messaging apps, such the accelerationist camp,
could be shot. to give updates on pro- as Telegram and Wickr, are celebrating the pros-
"I don't want to support test times and locations, as have not seen a similar up- pect of increased violence,
or be a part of something well as updates on where tick. which they hope will lead
that is possibly supporting police are making arrests One new user is Toby Ander- to a long-promised 'race
Trump and his racist, hate or staging. One New York son, 30, who also attended war,'" the ADL said Mon-
filed spew," said Sarah Wild- City Telegram channel for the Providence rally on Fri- day. "They are extremely