- Rep.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shared her account of events from the capitol riots this week. - Multiple hashtags have been created by Republican
Twitter accounts responding to AOC. - #AOCLied was co-opted by K-pop stans and animal lovers to drown out the negative content.
On Monday night, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez went on Instagram Live to share her experience during the capitol riots in January, recounting her fears of being killed as rioters stormed the building she was in and how she hid behind her bathroom door.
"I'm a survivor of sexual assault. And I haven't told many people that in my life," AOC told the audience watching her stream. "But when we go through trauma, trauma compounds on each other."
Since that time, AOC-detractors have been flooding Twitter with tweets and hashtags attempting to minimize what she went through. One of the most common claims put forward by conservatives on Twitter, like former Deputy Assistant to President Trump Sebastion Gorka, influencer Candace Owens, and political account Catturd was that the congresswoman wasn't "in the capitol building" so she couldn't have actually been in danger.
AOC responded to those claims on her own Twitter, writing that it is "the latest manipulative take on the right."
—Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 3, 2021
On Twitter, the hashtag #AlexandriaOcasioSmollet started to gain some traction, with some comparing her recent account to that of Jussie Smollett, the actor who was accused of falsely claiming that he was assaulted by two Trump supporters. Another hashtag, #AOClied, started to bubble up on Wednesday evening in the same community.
—DIMELO (@iamDimelo) February 3, 2021
Over the course of evening, #AOCLied transformed from a targeted harassment campaign into a place where people shared pictures of their pets and fandoms. K-Pop stans, known for co-opting right-wing hashtags, flocked to Twitter in an attempt to drown out the conservative campaign.
—‧₊˚ ☆ adeline ☆ ‧₊˚ (@G00DED4ZE) February 4, 2021
—valentina#CLC_OT7 (@jisoodicr) February 4, 2021
From there, the hashtag grew even larger, with it getting overwhelmed with cute pictures of animals and memes. Shots of huskies, tabby cats, and assorted randomness flooded the hashtag, nearly drowning out the hateful messages directed at AOC. #AOCLied hit number one on trending with over 10,000 tweets on Thursday morning, with more pets flooding in by the second.
—Adi (pronounced 80) (@PrincessAdi12) February 4, 2021
—Mlandukid (@mlandukid) February 4, 2021
Some Conservative-leaning accounts have taken this co-opting as a positive thing, since it caused the hashtag to continue to grow. Editor-in-Chief at The National Pulse Raheem Kassam tweeted that this movement will just keep "the trend up longer."