Play First: Play as resistance on social media
Playfulness comes in many forms, as we’ve discovered over the past few weeks. It can be freeing. It can be unifying. It can be curious. And it can be sincere. But playfulness can also be clever. A clever and cunning resistance to suppression.
And that is exactly how young people use the internet for play today. As we wake up to the reality that the infrastructure of social media we once found solace in is designed to exploit and extract our attention, young people are turning these mechanisms into vital tools of protest.
Just as young people have always done, we are using what we have to stand up for what we believe in – only this time our methods are adapted to the times we live in and that realm we know so well: the algorithm.
The algorithm is essentially an automated set of rules that curates and ranks content based on predicted engagement rather than chronological order, therefore deciding what users see on their feeds. It is what locks us into addictive echo chambers, harvests our data for brands and inhibits our natural inclination towards discovery. However, several social media users are harnessing its methods to their benefit by using the algorithm to raise awareness for humanitarian crises globally.
This was first done by a movement called Operation Watermelon, established in 2023, which began using TikTok’s ‘blue comment’ feature to redirect users to videos about the genocide in Gaza. The ‘blue comment’ feature is an SEO-driven tool that turns popular keywords in a comment section blue and clickable. These blue links serve as search shortcuts to related content, designed, according to the platform, to enhance discoverability and promote engagement by highlighting relevant topics.
What the platform did not see coming was that these blue, clickable comments would eventually be used as a mode of activism. By encouraging users to comment specific words enough times for them to turn blue, Operation Watermelon are re-directing unaware users to videos of Israel's war crimes against the Palestinian people. The team targets TikTok posts with an already high engagement metric, such as those of influencers (particularly influencers who have remained silent on the issue), and encourages others to do the same.
In a playful subversion of expectations, the words are hidden amongst seemingly innocuous comments. For example, during the 2024 Super Bowl, the names of Palestinian citizen journalists Bisan Owda and Motaz Azaiza were disguised in comments about the show:
And, during the preceding Academy Awards ceremony, the comment sections of the official Oscars, Entertainment Tonight, and Vogue profiles were flooded with mentions of Yazan al-Kafarna, a 10-year-old Palestinian boy who died from malnourishment:
Essentially, the Operation Watermelon activists (and fellow cooperating TikTok users) have harnessed the power of the algorithm to break political content out of its echo chamber and put it in front of those who might otherwise miss it. It is a powerful manipulation of the tool and a resourceful use of social media to enact resistance through play.
Memes have also been used to a similar effect, where pointed humour is used to enact scathing social and political critiques. One such example is the Peter Griffin skin colour chart, which shows the character passing by what could be either a police officer or border control, who is holding up a chart to determine whether Peter is ‘white enough’ to pass through. The meme is frequently shared as a criticism of the media’s tendency to label killings by non-white individuals ’terrorism’, while similar acts by white perpetrators may be described as ‘lone wolf’ attacks, ‘violent extremism,’ or mental health issues:
In a similar, but slightly more dystopian, corruption of TikTok’s infrastructure, influencers have been using algospeak to spread warnings about nearby ICE raids. It’s a creative way to evade content moderation rulesand maintain freedom of speech, which has become all the more important since the Trump administration took control of the app in early 2025. With biased political restrictions preventing users from discussing issues such as Epstein, compounded by fears that data collection could be used against them, algospeak in the US has taken a dark but necessary turn.
Creators are intentionally using words that will be favoured by the algorithm, such as ‘cute winter boots’ or ‘music festivals’; words the algorithm will boost for commercial benefit, to prevent them from being flagged for political censorship. But behind these captions lies the truth; these are videos of crucial humanitarian work and political defiance:
Aside from being a terrifying sign of the times, these innovative algospeak replacements reveal something deeper about where youth culture is headed – and it feels hopeful. What these movements share is more than just ingenuity — they share a refusal to be silenced by the very systems designed to silence them. Operation Watermelon and the ICE raid warnings are not isolated incidents but early signals of a broader shift in how resistance is organised and expressed. Young people are not simply using social media for activism; they are reverse-engineering it, bending its commercial logic until it serves a human one.
There is something quietly radical about that. The algorithm was built to sell. It was built to sort, to suppress, to funnel attention towards profit. And yet, in the hands of those who grew up inside it, it becomes a megaphone, a warning system, a lifeline. Play, in this context, is not trivial — it is strategic. It is the watermelon emoji slipped into a comment about the Super Bowl. It is the caption about winter boots that carries a warning nobody asked the platform's permission to share.
As long as the social media infrastructure remains in tension with the political realities of its users, this kind of playful subversion will only grow more sophisticated. Young people have always found a way to speak. Now, they are learning to speak in algorithm — and the internet is finally listening. And in turn, they’re redefining what play means and that it can inspire action.