#FreeDorothy

About

#FreeDorothy is a hashtag that began trending on Twitter in August 2019 due to one Ariana Grande fan account @thankyounext327 or "Dorothy" tweeting about her mother confiscating her electronics. Dorothy gained a following for posting to Twitter using a smart fridge and a Nintendo 3DS.

Origin

On August 4th, 2019, Twitter user @thankunext327^[1] or "dorothy" tweeted, "im leaving forever. my mom took my phone. ill miss u all sm. im crying. goodbye. #ACNL" attaching a picture of Ariana Grande crying (shown below). The tweet gained over 35,700 likes and 6,500 retweets in ten days.

Spread

On August 4th, @thankunext327^[2] tweeted, "I seen that Dorothy has been using twitter on her Nintendo. This account will be shut down now" which included a picture of a Nintendo 3DS (shown below). The tweet garnered over 88,200 likes and 13,900 retweets in ten days. The series of Tweets involving Dorothy's mother confiscating her electronics led to Twitter user repeating the hashtag #FreeDorothy.

On August 6th, two days after the hashtag became popular, Twitter user @successfuliana suggested in a lengthy thread that Dorothy had created a fake account which was used to harass other Twitter users (shown below). The thread gained upwards of 2,900 likes and 700 retweets in eight days.

On August 8th, @thankunext327^[3] tweeted, "I do not know if this is going to tweet I am talking to my fridge what the heck my Mom confiscated all of my electronics again" from an LG Smart Refrigerator (shown below, left). The tweet became quickly popular gaining over 70,800 likes and 16,900 retweets in six days. On August 12th, Twitter user @KiIledByDeath__^[4] posted screenshots of Dorothy's series of tweets which further launched the accounts popularity by accumulating 356,400 likes and 96,000 retweets in two days (shown below, right).

The next day, @thankunext327^[6] tweeted, "I don't know how I got this much support thank you so much to my supporters and @twitter this is crazy I would be lost without you and given up. I'm trying to get my things back fast so I can thank you properly!" (shown below, left). The tweet gained over 8,200 likes and 900 retweets in a day. That same day, LG Electronics^[5] tweeted, "#FreeDorothy" (shown below, right). The tweet garnered over 10,400 likes and 4,500 retweets in a day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References