What is #TheTriggering?

A two-day hashtag campaign on March 9th and 10th, 2016 where participants posted intentionally provocative content on Twitter as a free-speech protest against political correctness and feminist discourse.

Where did #TheTriggering come from?

Canadian conservative commentator Lauren Southern first proposed the idea in a September 18th, 2015 tweet, then announced the March 9th, 2016 date the following day.

What does #TheTriggering mean?

The name mocks the concept of "trigger warnings" by positioning the posts as deliberate "triggers" aimed at progressives, with Age of Shitlords describing participants as "shitlords" fighting "cultural Marxists".

How do you use #TheTriggering?

During the two-day event, participants attached the tag to politically incorrect statements on Twitter and other platforms, often paired with screenshots alleging that Twitter was shadowbanning or "suppressing" the hashtag.

Is #TheTriggering still popular?

No. The campaign peaked over its March 9th and 10th, 2016 window and dropped out of regular use after that cycle of coverage from outlets including Infowars and The Mary Sue.

#TheTriggering

2016hashtag campaigndead

Published October 3, 2026

#TheTriggering was a two-day hashtag campaign launched by Canadian conservative commentator Lauren Southern on March 9th and 10th, 2016, where participants flooded Twitter with intentionally offensive posts framed as a free-speech protest against political correctness. The tag trended worldwide, drawing sympathetic coverage from Infowars alongside sharp pushback from feminist outlets like The Mary Sue, and became one of the widely covered anti-SJW organizing stunts of mid-2010s Twitter.

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Overview

Rather than a single image or template format, #TheTriggering worked as a coordinated post flood. Participants used the tag to share deliberately provocative content aimed at feminists and progressives, from edgy jokes about safe spaces to explicit denials of concepts like rape culture1. The anti-SJW blog Age of Shitlords, which published the campaign's official date timeline, framed the event as "shitlords around the world" fighting "cultural Marxists who seek to subvert us"2.

The energy came from Gamergate-adjacent corners of Twitter and Reddit, especially the r/KotakuInAction community7. During the two-day window, posters also circulated screenshots accusing Twitter of "suppressing" the hashtag through search filters, which turned the censorship claim into its own meta content6. Supportive coverage ran at Infowars8, while critical write-ups appeared at The Mary Sue1 and WeHuntedTheMammoth2.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Twitter

Creator

Lauren Southern

Date

2016

The campaign began with a tweet from Lauren Southern on September 18th, 2015, calling for a day where users would post "offensive" statements on social media in defense of free speech3. One day later, on September 19th, Southern set the date for March 9th, 2016 and gave the campaign its hashtag name4. Southern had already drawn attention earlier that year after showing up at a Vancouver SlutWalk with a sign reading "There is no rape culture in the West," a stunt that made her an icon in anti-feminist Twitter circles2.

The idea sat idle for about six months before any organized rollout. In the week before launch, the anti-SJW blog Age of Shitlords published a dated timeline post for the event5, and days later a promotional thread hit the International Skeptics Forum urging readers to stand up for speech "like Socrates would"9.

How It Spread

On March 7th, 2016, Age of Shitlords published its promotional timeline for the campaign5. A thread on the International Skeptics Forum followed on March 8th, framing the day as a stand for free speech "like Socrates would"9. By the morning of March 9th, the tag hit the global trending list on Twitter, and user @MartinDaubney posted a screenshot of a sparse search page accusing the platform of "suppressing" the campaign6.

A Reddit submission from user pl0x pushed the campaign on /r/KotakuInAction the same day7, mapping it onto the Gamergate wing of the anti-SJW audience. YouTuber Fem Fighter put out a satirical response titled "#TheTriggering is Triggering," feigning outrage at the posts6. Infowars framed the tag as a strike against "safe space cry babies"8, while The Mary Sue dismissed it as "the internet on a normal freaking day"1 and WeHuntedTheMammoth summed it up as "internet jerks" pledging extra jerkiness over the two-day run2.

Timeline

2015-09-18

Lauren Southern tweets the idea for a day called "The Triggering" dedicated to posting offensive statements in defense of free speech.

2015-09-19

Southern announces March 9th, 2016 as the date for the #TheTriggering hashtag campaign.

2016-03-07

Age of Shitlords publishes a promotional timeline article for the campaign two days before launch.

2016-03-08

A promotional thread for #TheTriggering is posted to the International Skeptics Forum.

2016-03-09

The hashtag goes live and hits worldwide trending on Twitter; @MartinDaubney posts a screenshot accusing Twitter of suppressing the tag, and a Reddit submission promotes the event on r/KotakuInAction.

2016-03-10

Second day of the campaign; coverage runs at Infowars, The Mary Sue and WeHuntedTheMammoth, and YouTuber Fem Fighter uploads the satirical response video "#TheTriggering is Triggering."

#TheTriggering

Overview

Gallery

Origin & Background

How It Spread

Frequently Asked Questions

References (9)