The Milk Tea Alliance is an online global pro-democracy
movement, for which Twitter has recently released an emoji. The Milk Tea
Alliance has worked in unison with anti-Beijing campaigners in Hong Kong and
Taiwan. Protesters of the movement are from Thailand, Myanmar and beyond.
The newly released emoji is represented by a white cup set
in front of a three-color background. The three different colors represent the
different shades of milk tea in Thailand, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The Alliance came into existence after Chinese nationalists
accused a young Thai actor and his girlfriend of supporting democracy in Hong
Kong and Taiwanese independence. This was followed by arguments blowing up on
Twitter, after which, the hashtag #MilkTeaAlliance surfaced on the platform.
The hashtag peaked yet again in February after the military coup was activated in Myanmar and the protesters in the region who used the hashtag rallied regional support.
Twitter announced that it saw more than 11 million Tweets
featuring the #MilkTeaAlliance hashtag over the past year, which has recently led
to the hashtag to be among the top trending in Thailand, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Thai activist and one of Milk Tea Alliance's leading voices,
Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal, acknowledged Twitter’s efforts in promoting the
movement. She said that the emoji showed “global recognition and lent greater
credibility to the youth movement.”
"It's important as it shows the young people fighting
for democracy that the world is with them and they're making an impact. It's a
sign that online activism can go much further,” said Netiwit.
Twitter has previously launched emojis for similar purposes,
including the #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter movements.
