Being online in 2024 involved a few universal truths: Baby animals are small floppy tits hairy sex videosback. Brat is in the eye of the beholder. And, most importantly, activism never rests.
In a year of political and digital upheaval, pockmarked by jarring headlines, tech launches, and an election season that felt unceasing, digital spaces were important hubs for education, organizing, and, consequently, emotional processing. Scrutiny was the name of the game online, and no person or technology was safe. As artificial intelligence embedded itself deeper into our daily lives, many began questioning its human and environment impact. When Democrats launched a late campaign for president, Americans wondered about the state of modern elections and political representation — and tech's influence in it all. With global conflicts raging on despite cries for change, digital communities found purpose in each other.
The digital was certainly political in 2024. Here's what users shined the spotlight on.
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Palestine, online
Marking over a year since the attack on Israel on Oct.7 and defined by continued violence in occupied Palestine, 2024 saw one of the most universally recognized movements for Palestinian solidarity in the conflict's history. And it's still being amplified: Calls for a ceasefire continue to flood comment sections and online petitions, with some crediting it to a radical shift in how people, mainly young people, conceptualize their personal politics.
While students took over their campuses and harnessed live streams to get out the word, celebrities used their own online visibility to call attention to the humanitarian crisis, from emblems worn on red carpets and in their best glamour shots to outright political messages, fundraisers, and petitions posted to their public profiles.
The internet rallies for citizen journalists
The pro-Palestine movement has also created a new, digitally-connected legion of journalists and activists. Certain creators and artists morphed into international correspondents, like Bisan Owda, Motaz Azaiza, and Medo Halimy, and became more than symbols of a cause, but essential sources of news footage and disseminators of personal stories of those on the ground. And in doing this work, these accounts thrust the ongoing limitations, and outright biases, of social media platforms into the digital conversation.
Credit: Mark Kerrison / In Pictures via Getty Images Harnessing TikTok for good
Continuing the strategies that paid off in gathering mass attention in the wake of Oct. 7, users on TikTok found increasingly creative ways to keep the plight of besieged Palestinians in the forefront of users minds. Reconfiguring TikTok's notoriously mysterious algorithm, users turned the app's suggested search or "blue comment" feature into a tool for protest. A meticulously planned effort known as Operation Watermelon, creators and celebrities were flooded by coordinated user comments that would co-opt an already viral or highly-viewed page in order to steer attention back to the situation in Gaza.
Happening simultaneously, a fundraising movement called Operation Olive Branch saw popular users adopting and amplifying the voices of Palestinian creators, activists, and families on the ground, led by a network of grassroots volunteers trying to connect families with humanitarian aid. "Link in bio" took on a different meaning.
Boycotting goes viral
Widely, the historic strategy of coordinated boycotting became ingratiated into the internet lexicon, either part of or just inspired by the pro-Palestine BDS movement. Users online entered into a naming and shaming game of boycotted companies, brands, and even people — with some very successful (and some not so successful) results.
A movement to save TikTok
This March saw the latest effort to ban Chinese-owned social media app TikTok out of perceived national security concerns — several unsuccessful attempts to get the app to divest from its foreign owners had been introduced in the past. Many watchdogs, and the platform itself, felt the government was violating free speech protections in doing so. Users, increasingly relying on TikTok for information, agreed. That month, users engaged in a mass calling campaign urging their representatives to save TikTok, causing disruption en masse in congressional offices. Others have spent the year appealing to federal leadership and their fellow users, both online and off, to halt the ban.
President Joe Biden eventually signed the ban bill into law, putting the social media platform on official notice that it needs to obtain new owners or get the hell out of dodge. The ban is set to go into effect on Jan. 19, but users, civil rights organizations, and digital rights groups are still fighting to keep the app restriction-free and the Supreme Court is set to be the final decider on the issue.
Credit: Graeme Sloan / Bloomberg via Getty Images Social media stand off
While thousands worked to save TikTok, 2024 also fostered a widespread questioning of how social media has altered the way users, fans, influencers, and celebrities interact with social causes. Culminating in what was coined a "digital guillotine," users carved lines in the social media sand, deciding as a collective whole who and where they would place their attention — they turned engagement into a bargaining tool.
Celebrities get the cold shoulder
In May, as the annual Met Gala brought glitz and glamour to the streets of New York, activists online were taking down names. A reckoning of privilege, the #Blockout2024 movement saw a mass unfollowing or blocking of the internet's favorite celebrities and influencers, and it became an entry point for many online to get active in humanitarian calls for a ceasefire in Palestine.
The practice didn't stop there. Since the celebrity-studded gala, blockout lists have continued as a form of preferred political organizing online, across a variety of issues — although it's not without its complications.
X gets ghosted
Digital communities were also getting more serious about their distaste for corporate interests. In the wake of owner Elon Musk's controversial political alignments and policy decisions, including new data and AI terms of service, users and organizations alike have fled the platform. In September, the platform had lost nearly one-fifth of its active user base — new numbers project the platform may lose millions more in 2025.
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News organizations like the Guardian, as well as some of the platform's most popular celebrity accounts, shuttered their presence on the site, following in the footsteps of nonprofits and activists who left the site in the early period after Musk's takeover. Users craving a similar digital environment instead looked for alternatives like Bluesky, an open source platform selling a community-driven version of social media.
A history-making election year
The most intensely covered news of 2024 was no doubt the U.S. presidential election, and the results, for many, signaled a sharp turn in America's future, one that had been hinted at long before November. Broadly, the internet and its flashy, audience-specific branding enmeshed itself further in political organizing, including Kamala Harris' brat-themed and meme-filled campaign and the rise of a new, thirst-driven political commentator class — for better or for worse. Young people were engaged, and tech companies were forced to address ongoing issues of misinformation and cybersecurity in the age of AI.
Zooms, fundraising booms
In the months leading up to November's vote casting, blocs of voters were showing out in history-making digital campaign efforts. Zoom fundraising calls for the Harris campaign skyrocketed past existing records, including platform-breaking calls organized by identity-based efforts, like White Women: Answer The Call! and #WinWithBlackWomen. The world of fandom entered the ring, as well, including the creation of an official Swifties for Kamala campaign.
Credit: Nick Oxford / The Washington Post via Getty Images Stepping up, nationwide
Organizing didn't stop in the wake of November's election results. Immediately, profiles online became hubs of support and calls to action. Students nationwide walked out after the results, coupled with continued cries for U.S. intervention in the Israeli bombardment of Palestine.
And there were wins to share, too. Seven out of 10 states entrenched abortion rights in their state constitutions. The first out transgender Congressperson, Sarah McBride, won a historic seat in the House, in addition to other major progressive pick ups. The electorate was, at the very least, paying attention again.
It is difficult (read: impossible) to summarize a whole calendar year of digital community building, culture making, and activism, but one thing was true: Users aren't just letting things slide anymore. Power holders should be prepared.
Topics Activism Social Good Politics