About

What's Happening On January 5th, 2023 refers to a series of videos on TikTok sharing a hoax that claims something significant will happen on January 5th, 2023. While it's unclear exactly what is supposed to happen, some have speculated that on that date, everyone's hair will turn the same color as their soulmate's hair or that a purge will take place after the Illinois Safe-T Act is enforced on January 1st, 2023. The rumor began in September 2022.

Origin

On September 8th, 2022, TikToker^[1] @strqthngs posted a video using a video of Nicki Minaj looking concerned captioned, "Me after realizing what's going to happen on 5th of January 2023," garnering over 2.7 million views in two weeks (shown below). There is no further elaboration on what the TikToker is talking about. Several top commenters joked that on that day, people's hair color would change to the color of their soulmate's hair, referencing an older trend on TikTok.^[2]

Spread

Videos asking what's happening on January 5th, 2023 spread over the course of the month, with some speculating that a purge will happen on that date after the Illinois Safe-T Act is enforced, an act focusing on criminal justice reform that will abolish cash bail, although that goes into effect on January 1st.^[3] Others continued to talk about the hair color change (examples shown below). On September 22nd, HITC^[4] reported on the trend.

On September 13th, 2022, the FOX 26 Houston YouTube channel uploaded a video discussing the fear people have over a purge starting due to the Safe-T act, garnering over 287,000 views in a week (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References