Why do people blacken their profile pictures on Facebook?

If you’ve scrolled through your Facebook feed at all since Tuesday, you may have noticed that some of your friends have blacked out their profile pictures.

According to one Facebook userdisplays a blank or darkened profile photo to “draw attention to a serious issue.”

As reported by USA TODAYThe “symbolic gesture” started making its rounds on social media after Tuesday’s presidential election, which saw former President Donald Trump re-elected for his second term.

While the trend of black or blank profile pictures has circulated on social media in the past for various reasons, this time around men and women across the country are reportedly taking part in protesting Trump’s election.

“Since the recent elections, many have chosen this black profile as a form of protest against the election results,” someone wrote in a newspaper. after on Facebook. “This simple gesture is a way to express dissatisfaction and solidarity with others who feel the same about the outcome.”

Why do people make their profile pictures black?

The movement to black out social media profiles has circulated the internet several times in recent years, each time for a different reason.

As reported by USA TODAYthe trend started on Facebook in 2018, when women saw the action as a way to “highlight the experience of silence and a visual way to show others what the world would be like without women for a day.”

Another prominent social media movement, which has since become known as “Blackout Tuesday,” occurred on June 2, 2020, following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

As reported by NBC NewsAbout 28 million people posted black squares on Instagram that day in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.