AOCLied hashtag hijacked by K-pop fans as they rally to the defence of US congresswoman accused of lying about Capitol riots

By flooding a hashtag used to attack Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez with photos and videos of stars, K-pop fans render it useless as a rallying point for her critics

It’s not the first time K-pop fans have overloaded hashtags they disagree with, as they increasingly become political

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K-pop fans hijacked hashtags accusing US congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of lying about her experience during the Capitol Building riot. Photo: Seth Wenig/AP

Published: 12:49pm, 5 Feb 2021Updated: 3:52pm, 5 Feb 2021

K-pop fans rallied to the defence of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez this week after the US congresswoman was accused of lying about her experiences during last month’s riots at the Capitol.

During an Instagram Live stream on Monday, Ocasio-Cortez revealed that she feared for her life during the violent unrest on January 6, and said Republicans were using “the tactics of abusers” by telling lawmakers to “move on” from the riots.

However, some Twitter users alleged that as Ocasio-Cortez’s office is not in the main Capitol building, the US congresswoman lied about her experience. The hashtags #AOCLied and #AlexandriaOcasioSmollett, a reference to Jussie Smollett, who was accused of staging a hate crime in 2019, were both trending on Twitter.

Two weeks after K-pop fans overran the hashtag #ImpeachBidenNow in defence of US President Joe Biden, they hijacked the #AOCLied and #AlexandriaOcasioSmollett hashtags with photos and videos of their favourite South Korean stars such as Blackpink.

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