Using twitter for political action during the pandemic

Social distancing prevents large public gatherings, including rallies and demonstrations. Face to face meetings with legislators are not possible either. This is troublesome in a time when governments are using the focus on the pandemic to take attention away from unjust actions, such as closing borders to immigrants.

MoveOn, a political action organization, has begun to use twitter to apply political pressure. The following is from a recent email message to MoveOn members.


Dear MoveOn member,

In a world where we have to maintain physical distance, we’re all looking for ways that we can use digital spaces to bring us closer together.

That’s why, earlier this month, we took action together in an unprecedented way to demand #RealReliefNow for working people in the government’s coronavirus response. In less than one hour, we were trending #3 on Twitter with an online protest that reached as far and as wide as any protest we’ve organized in person. 

This massive Twitter rally took place in the pivotal days before the Democrats released an expansive bill that put people first, pushing forward critical voices that helped shape the HEROES Act, which included protections for essential workers, student debt relief, investments to protect jobs, direct financial support, and so much more. 

Interested in joining our next Twitter rally? This works only when many of us work together, and we need as many of us raising our voices at once! Text TWEET to 668366 and we’ll let you know about the next opportunity to join a collective action with people all across the country.

Joining an online rally is safe and simple. That’s why more than 41,000 MoveOn members who are active Twitter users were invited to join this Twitter rally to demand #RealReliefNow and got this campaign to trend.

Together, we tweeted our members of Congress directly, shared what people-centered relief would look like in our communities, and called out Trump and the GOP for continuing to send billions of dollars to corporations and the wealthy. We know that members of Congress heard us—and that millions of folks around the country heard and shared these messages.

Your tweets became your protest signs, your stories were shared, and, together, we demanded real relief that serves people, not corporations.


As it says above, use your phone to send a text to 668366 that reads TWEET.

You will receive the following reply:

MoveOn: Thanks for signing up for text message alerts. We’re excited to tweet with you and will let you know when there’s breaking news or urgent action to take.

Our Twitter handle is @MoveOn. Follow here: http://mvn.to/1uf/5sox5h

What’s your Twitter handle?

(for example, my Twitter handle is @jakislin)


Clicking on the tweet will take you to a website with more information.

Here is my latest tweet:



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