Instagram will become a sea of black squares over the next 30 hours (factoring in different timezones) as people join Blackout Tuesday and stand in solidarity with racial inequality and the Black Lives Matter movement.

The idea is that users will post a plain black square (some variations have hearts and power-fists) to their feed and then commit to not posting for the rest of the day. The concept of Blackout Tuesday is to show respect for those lives of colour which have already been lost while considering ways they themselves can fight racism.

The idea was birthed by the music industry, which lead by stating it would cease producing of any new music or posting to social media and instead utilize the “day to disconnect from work and reconnect with our community” and was organised under the hashtag “#THESHOWMUSTBEPAUSED”, thought #BlackoutTuesday is the more common trending hashtag currently.

Users are discouraged from using the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag on these types of posts and it obstructs the important information (help resources, points of donation and protest times/locations) associated with the movement itself.

The trend has swept social media with other celebrities and brands jumping on board.

Donation points include: George Floyd’s Memorial Fund

Campaign Zero which dedicated to police reform and the reduction of violence.

Colour of Change the largest online racial injustice organisation.