#FreeKesha-The Use of Twitter to Create Discussion and Sympathy

Recently, pop star Kesha took her producer Dr. Luke to trial with allegations that he was emotionally, verbally, and sexually abusive towards her while they worked together. Kesha, famous for her many hit singles, fought the good fight in a recent legal battle. Dr. Luke has worked with many other celebrities, and is responsible for a lot of pop hits that have come out over the years.

However, the judge did not rule in Kesha's favor, and ruled to have her keep her contact with Dr. Luke and Sony. Here is a picture of her reaction:

This decision erupted in a advocacy campaign on Twitter in which many other female celebrities showed their support for Kesha. Lady Gaga, Lorde, Miley Cyrus, and Kelly Clarkson were just a couple of celebrities that showed their support for Kesha, along with thousands of fans. The hashtag #freekesha was used. 

Here are a couple of examples of tweets supporting the singer: 

Lady Gaga wrote: “There are people all over the world who love you @KeshaRose. And I can say truly I am in awe of your bravery.” 

the fact that kesha has to choose to either freely make music or avoid the person who abused her is outrageous and degrading#freekesha

If you don't see why this Kesha issue is a big deal, you're part of the problem. This is exactly why I speak up the way I do#FreeKesha

Demi Lavato

#FreeKesha  this is only gonna make you stronger, you brave and beautiful girl. Prayers are with you@KeshaRose

This case tragically demonstrated how sexual assault cases are still handled horribly in the U.S, and showed a high profile case of the Justice System failing yet another survivor of abuse.

This case also displays that rape culture is still prominent in our patriarchal society, a society in which, in this case, privilege allowed for excuses and deniability. 

The hashtag feature like this has been used to call attention and create discourse for countless other social problems as well. Sarah Florini has studied how "Black Twitter" often uses hashtags to "signify" and call out in justices on Twitter. Examples of these include #staymadAbby and #ferguson. 

The hashtag feature is extremely important in creating a dialogue on social media. Social media affords the multicultural public a platform in which to show their thoughts on an issue. Twitter is a powerful tool, because it has 560 million active users that tweet 5,700 tweets a second (Steele, 2016). 

Over the years, I have witnessed great uses of social media to call out on issue. I have even participated in a couple myself, feeling as if I have a way to actually get out my frustrations. This is what makes social media so important. It offers us a way to engage in the problems we see fit.