Oct 13, 2018 - Technology

#MeToo hashtag used over 19 million times on Twitter

A South Korean demonstrator during International Women's Day. Photo: Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Images

The hashtag #MeToo has been used more than 19 million times on Twitter since it was used by actress Alyssa Milano almost one year ago, a Pew Research study shows.

Why it matters: This metric is used to gauge just how wide the #MeToo movement has spread, as it averages 55,319 uses of the hashtag a day. While 71% of the tweets containing #MeToo were in English, 29% were in other languages, proving the global impact the movement has had.

The day that #MeToo was most-used on Twitter was September 9, the day former CEO of CBS, Leslie Moonves, resigned amid sexual misconduct allegations, Pew reports.

  • Other surges tend to fall around news events, such as the day of Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford's hearings and Harvey Weinstein's resignation.
  • 65% of American adults that use social media say "at least some" of what they see on social media platforms is related to sexual assault or harassment.
  • In Congress, there was a "large gender gap" in lawmakers that addressed sexual misconduct on their official Facebook pages, Pew reports: 61% of Republican women and 76% of Democratic women made posts, compared to 31% of Republican men and 46% of Democratic men.

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