Hong Kong Protesters Use Tinder And Pokemon Go To Spread Messages

Hong Kong Protesters are using from Tinder, Pokemon Go to Apple’s AirDrop to ask people to come to the streets and join them as the city continues to rebel against the extradition bill.

Using Tinder to post information is just one of a few creative ways of Hongkongers to mobilize people.

For over eight weeks, technology has been deployed against the extradition bill.

The protesters are now requesting a democratic reform, the resignation of Carrie Lam-the territory’s Chief Executive, and an investigation into the police violence.

People mostly use Telegram as their primary method of communicating and gaming platform Twitch to stream their actions. But as violence has been escalating, they are finding unconventional ways for online organizing and communicating.

Besides Tinder, Pokemon Go is another method. Earlier, when the protesters did not receive permission from the Hong Kong police to march in one of the suburban areas of the city, the demonstrators said this wasn’t a march as they were just there to play Pokemon Go.

The July 27 march in Yuen Long town was a response to the violent acts against protesters with over 100 white-clad assailants. Some of the arrested ones were connected to triad gangs. They stormed one of the area’s train stations and attacked some pro-democracy protesters. The protesters were coming back from a rally in Hong Kong center.

Apple’s AirDrop is another method for spreading messages of protesters.

Before, people would go around the city to distribute leaflets explaining their political reasons. But these days, the cloud has been used to spread these messages by sending images directly to the phones of the recipients.

People commuting in Hong Kong subways have been receiving invitations to join the protest using Apple’s AirDrop. The latest called was a general strike on August 5.

The tool has even been used for interactions with mainland China’s tourists.

The Great Firewall of China has censored news about the Hong Kong protests, including information posted on social media like Douyin-China’s TikTok.

As AirDrop uses peer-to-peer communication method, protesters can send information directly to tourists traveling from mainland China to Hong Kong.