Photo credit: Antoine Geiger, “SUR-FAKE”
We are excited to share a new regular feature on our blog – the “Gen Z Journal” – starting with this piece from JTA intern Sabina Borbon.
“Gen Z,” the generation born between 1997 and 2012, have been characterized by their deep involvement with the Internet. Social media itself is only as old as Gen Z, meaning that it evolved alongside them. Today, social media serves as so much more than a digital scrapbook. It has become a platform of news consumption, digital activism, fundraising, community outreach, and public discourse. Social media’s suite of tools has supported the politicization of Gen Z.
Social media lends itself to activism efforts in that it provides a global stage for political discourse and advocacy, readily available at the click of a button. This digital form of activism appeals to Gen Z in particular, in that it can be more easily digestible and casual. Engaging in digital activism can be as simple as the use of a hashtag to the sharing of video or photo evidence of societal injustices actively occurring. The unprecedented reach and virality of these digital platforms has become a source of power in today’s political climate. For those who control social media can ultimately control the public narrative.
Recently, Gen Z’s political weapon of social media has been wielded against them by the current administration. There is a growing conflict of interest in social media ownership. For example, Elon Musk, the current owner of the platform formerly known as Twitter, is Trump’s top campaign donor as well as his appointed head of the Department of Government Efficiency. Additionally, Mark Zuckerberg recently spoke on working with Trump to push back on social media “censorship” by stopping the use of third party fact-checking on Meta platforms. This is a concerning decision, considering the fact that Trump himself has had a history of outwardly spewing political disinformation to the public. Perhaps the most glaring example of Trump’s manipulation of social media was his attempted banning and subsequent saving of TikTok. Back in 2020, Trump raised concerns over TikTok’s potential threat to national security and urged for its ban. When the 2024 presidential campaign came around, Trump completely changed his tune and worked to block his own executive order. This very deliberate attempt to shift the public narrative in his favor and to pander to young voters was solidified when TikTok sent out a formal in-app message to its American users stating, “As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.”
In response to Trump’s attempts to infiltrate social media, Gen Z and digital activists at large must adapt and overcome. In this age of widespread disinformation and propaganda, there is a serious need for third-party fact-checking and the teaching of media literacy online. Trump and his associated tech-billionaires stand to gain a lot from the confusion and deception of the general public. Thus, we must learn to view social media through a more critical lens and see beyond the current administration’s smoke and mirrors. Additionally, digital activists must strengthen and diversify their methods by following through offline. While social media does exist at an international scale, we must not forget that accessibility is not guaranteed. Social media is limited only to those with technology and Internet access, meaning that true wide-scale change is inhibited without the integration of a grassroots approach. This means going out and organizing, building coalitions, protesting, etc. Social media’s gift of community is utterly wasted if it is not mobilized into real life action.
All TikTok users saw this message earlier this year.