When the protests in Los Angeles against Trump’s administration on Tuesday were dragging to their fifth day, the creators of social media sometimes exceeded the traditional press corps to the assembly and played an excessive role in sharing the media about what happened on Earth.
Many creators – many of them, of which many conservative – were equipped with their own temporary printing helmets and vests, lived coverage for days and sent social platforms such as X and streaming places such as Twitch and YouTube. During some of the most announced moments of the week, Trump officials are like Stephen Miller and billionaires like Elon Musk Choose on amplify What the creators have published causes the contributions to become viral and fed the narrative that violence was out of control.
President Trump said Governor Gov. Gavin Newsom of California and others had no control of protests and urged the National Guard units to hit. Mr. Newsom said the units were unnecessary and filed an emergency proposal to prevent Trump’s administration from sending soldiers. At least 150 protesters have been arrested since Friday, the officials said.
Among the protest creators was CAM HIGBY, 25, journalist and political commentator for conservative digital outlet Today is America. On Friday he flew to Los Angeles from his house in Washington after seeing videos of demonstrations at X.
On Monday evening he lived from the front lines of protests along with another online creator and friend Alda Buttazoni, 25. “Most of their content comes in the form of refuting democratic officials, such as the mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass or Mr. Newsom.
Mr. Higby’s contributions, which have gathered millions of views in recent days, have blurred the boundary between reporting and defense. Sometimes it publishes video updates on police movements and other times repeats Mr. Trump’s statement about how “La needs a national guard“In attempts to outrage.
“I would call it duality: I make the ground and also comment on problems,” Higby said.
With a limited number of reporters in Los Angeles, Tech Word News, he tapped Mr. Higby and Mr. Buttazoni on an unpaid TV show at the weekend and cut them for live updates.
Liberal demonstrators who knew Mr. Higby and Mr. Buttazoni were publicly cursed and Mr. Buttazoni eventually took away any identification badges with his name. Mr. Higby said he had received enough “trustworthy threats” on the social media for paying $ 3,000 for hiring two bodyguards.
Left -wing creators such as Twitch Streamer Hasan Piker, 33, also reported rally in Los Angeles, albeit in seemingly smaller numbers. Mr. Piker Twitch Stream on Monday From the same protest in Los Angeles, which Mr. Higby took part, he lasted eight hours and received 1.4 million views.
Andrew Callaghan, a journalist in Los Angeles and the creator of Media Company Channel 5 News, who also covered protests, said the market for protest and rebellion was born during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations.
“They do not have a boss, so they can say that they are independent, but watch exactly the same incentive structures as the media of conservative foundation,” said Mr. Callaghan in an interview. “Click the bait, key frames that do not reflect the reality of the situation, do everything in their power to absorb the audience that would otherwise follow the same programming on Tech Word News.”
