A young woman with enviable dark lashes looks straight into the camera, holds a pink lash curler and offers her viewers a makeup tutorial.
“Hi guys, I’m going to teach you how to get long lashes,” says Feroza Aziz.
But the TikTok video includes a plot twist.
“So, the first thing you need to do is grab your lash curler, curl your lashes, obviously. Then, you’re going to put [it] down and use your phone that you’re using right now to search up what’s happening in China,” Aziz says. “They’re getting concentration camps, throwing innocent Muslims in there.”
Aziz, 19, is referring to the reported internment of Uyghur Muslims in China. The video summarizes some of the alleged human rights violations China has committed against Uyghurs, and Aziz tells her viewers to spread awareness about the issue.
#GRWM for a story I’m working on for The National
CBC’s Anya Zoledziowski demonstrates how activists use trends, like the get-ready-with-me (GRWM) video, and other creative techniques to circumvent social media censors they say throttle the reach of their messaging.
She disguised her activism in a makeup tutorial in order to attract viewers. And it worked: in two years, the video has amassed more than three million views on TikTok. (CBC News previously reported that the platform had temporarily removed the video for political reasons, but ultimately reinstated it.)
Aziz’s reel was also circulated across other platforms, including X.
Aziz isn’t the only social media influencer relying on trending hashtags and video formats across social media platforms to discuss otherwise serious issues such as war, LGBTQ rights and abortion access. In fact, it’s become a popular strategy to entice people to watch political content they might not otherwise see.
Bait and switch
In another TikTok example, Emira D’Spain, the first Black transgender woman to walk in a Victoria’s Secret fashion show, stares into the camera and says, “I’m in the middle of filming a ‘get ready with me,’ but I also want to tell you about a really important charity I’m working with for Pride.”
Brianna Wiens, a professor at the University of Waterloo in Ontario who studies online activism, says this politicized influencer trend is all about ‘using the thing that’s already popular and then using that popularity to redirect [attention].’ (Perlita Stroh/CBC)
D’Spain then explains that she is raising money for the Marsha P. Johnson Institute, an advocacy group for Black trans people, and tells viewers how they can pitch in.
Brianna Wiens, an English professor at the University of Waterloo in Ontario who studies online activism, says this bait-and-switch technique is all about “using the thing that’s already popular and then using that popularity to redirect [attention].”
Valeria Shashenok, a 22-year-old woman living in Ukraine, makes “day in the life” reels — a popular trend that takes viewers through a content creator’s typical day — to share tongue-in-cheek content about the war.
“It’s the most clever way to spread information,” she said over Zoom from the city of Chernihiv.
Capitalizing on trends
Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Shashenok posted a TikTok reel with a caption reading, “My Typical Day in a Bomb Shelter.” In it, viewers are introduced to Shashenok’s parents and dog in their bunker, as well as the wreckage above ground.
It has been viewed 51.8 million times.
“I like videos … like, ‘my daily routine in Mariupol now that it’s occupied,'” Shashenok said, referring to the Ukrainian coastal city occupied by Russia. “That’s so interesting.”
A similar vlog posted by creator @anat.international and viewed almost 400,000 times offers a day in the life in Gaza.
“Unfortunately, it’s not a very pretty, relaxing influencer ‘day in the life,'” the narrator says.
Politically motivated influencers have also woven their activism into viral content about the Barbie movie as well as trending dances and recipes.
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Evading restrictions
At times, influencers have to creatively package their content so it gets around restrictions set by the individual social media platforms.
TikTok and Meta (which owns Facebook and Instagram) ban content considered inappropriate, including sexually explicit content and graphic images. That can make it difficult to post about difficult themes such as abortion and war.
Multiple human rights groups have alsowarned that Meta has stifled pro-Palestine content since the war in Gaza broke out in October. CBC News also found isolated incidents of Israelis alleging that platforms have silenced them.
“There is no truth to the suggestion that we are deliberately suppressing voices,” a Meta spokesperson told CBC News in an email.
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Joey Siu, a pro-democracy activist from Hong Kong currently living in exile in the U.S., says she and her colleagues stay off TikTok because they believe the Beijing-owned company restricts posts that are critical of the Chinese government.
Both platforms told CBC News their guidelines are meant to keep users safe—and that they don’t arbitrarily block content. Meta and TikTok also linked to their respective community guidelines.
“Our principles are centered on balancing expression with harm prevention, embracing human dignity and ensuring our actions are fair,” says TikTok’s community guidelines site.
Some activists maintain some of their content has been “shadowbanned” — that is, put into a kind of invisible mode where only they, and not their audience, can see the content they post.
‘A chilling effect’
Creators have to be strategic so they can get their content in front of as many viewers as possible, said Deja Foxx, a digital strategist based in Arizona who worked on U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris’s Democratic nomination campaign in 2020.
Deja Foxx is a digital strategist based in Arizona who worked on U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris’s Democratic nomination campaign in 2020. (deja_foxx/TikTok)
Foxx, who posts a lot of content about reproductive justice, says she believes users who disagree with her posts have taken advantage of TikTok’s algorithm to flag her content.
She said shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion decision in June 2022, “I had all of these complaints from TikTok the app, flagging my videos for things like grooming, for things like the sale of illegal goods — when the content I had made was about reproductive care.”
She said “it really had a chilling effect on what I was able to make and create and share at a time when people needed that information more than ever.”
That hasn’t stopped her and other influencers from getting creative in order to circumvent censors, real or perceived. Foxx says she will use a zero and an exclamation mark to replace the letters “o” and “i” in her TikTok reels. (Think “ab0rt!on” instead of “abortion.”)
The point is to fly under the algorithm’s radar.
Duets and ‘hashbaiting’
Wiens has found other tactics that allow influencers to keep producing this content, including “duets.”
In a duet, a content creator splits the screen so that two videos play simultaneously. In the politically minded version of this trend, one clip is uncontroversial — hands making a cake, for example — while the other could be a rant about current events or a human rights crisis.
Then there’s what’s known as “hashbaiting,” in which creators post political content with unrelated but trending hashtags (e.g. #taylorswift and #GRWM) to confuse the algorithm and get their posts in front of more viewers.
Wiens says these tactics seem to be working in bringing political issues to the fore on social media.
According to Reach3, a market research consultancy, 77 per cent of TikTok users say the platform helps them stay up-to-date on politics and social justice. The same report found more than one-quarter of TikTok users attended a Black Lives Matter rally in person, compared to only 13 per cent of non-users.
Online activism is “one part of the kind of protest rhetoric that we see in the protest action — social media is a key way for learning more,” said Wiens, who admitted she enjoys a lot of this sneaky content herself.
She said her favourite trend across social media is the “girlhood aesthetic.”
“They’re drawing people into their TikToks by saying, ‘Let’s talk about the bare face trend,’ and then say, ‘Now that I’ve got your attention, we riot at midnight.'”
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.
Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.
She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.
Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.
Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.
Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.
“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.
“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”
The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.
In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.
“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”
In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.
“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”
Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.
Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”
In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.
In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.
“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”
Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.
“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”
The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.
“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.
“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
