#PitBullDropOff

About

#PitBullDropOff is a hashtag campaign urging people to euthanize pit bull dogs as a public safety measure. In mid-May 2018, various posters on 4chan's /pol/ board took responsibility for the hashtag, claiming it was a hoax meant to inspire outrage in pit bull enthusiasts.

Origin

On May 3rd, 2018, Twitter user @BixterN^[7] posted a tweet claiming to have joined "the growing wave of activists who are adopting pitbulls and taking them directly to kill shelters" along with the hashtag "#PitbullDropOff" (shown below).

Spread

On May 5th, 2018, Twitter user coochiepls posted a tweeted claiming to "adopt pitbulls on Craigslist and then put them down" in order to keep "children safe" (shown below). Prior to their suspension from the site, the tweet gained upwards of 850 likes and 200 retweets.^[1]

On May 13th, 2018, Memebase^[3] published an article about the tweets titled "People Are Adopting Pitbulls For This Majorly F*cked Up Reason." That day, several 4chans posts claiming the hashtag was a hoax campaign began appearing on 4chan's /pol/ board (shown below).^[4][5][6]

On May 14th, Redditor crockrox submitted a post asking "What is up with the #PitbullDropOff movement?" to the /r/OutOfTheLoop^[2] subreddit. In the comments section, Redditor Sullimen replied the hashtag is "a planned 4chan troll movement, not real."

Search Interest

External References