From TikTok to global movements: How young people are changing activism

6 min.
young people holding phones and sharing information

For those who have grown up online, civic life increasingly happens there as well.

Social media and other digital platforms let young people share information, build communities, organise events and highlight local issues for wider audiences. Technology has made it easier and cheaper to connect with others who share similar interests, even across borders.

Young people have long been involved in campaigns for social and political change, but what is different now is the communication environment in which many of these movements operate.

Digital tools have not replaced voting, petitions, demonstrations, volunteering or participation in organisations. Instead, online and offline activism increasingly complement one another.

A closer-connected generation

Young people are among the most connected people in the world.

According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), 82 per cent of people aged 15 to 24 used the Internet globally in 2025, compared with 72 per cent of the rest of the population. In Europe, Internet use among this age group had reached 98 per cent.

Connectivity gives young people new opportunities to exchange information, find communities and take part in discussions far beyond their immediate surroundings.

The United Nations has highlighted how digital technologies are changing youth activism. Social media and online platforms can enable collective action across borders and make it easier to organise events, share information and mobilise around common concerns.

This does not mean every viral post becomes a movement, or that online engagement automatically leads to political change.

But digital platforms have changed the speed and scale at which information and ideas circulate. They have also lowered some barriers to participation: a young person does not necessarily need access to an established organisation or institution to draw attention to an issue.

When online action moves offline

The relationship between digital and physical activism has become increasingly visible.

In August 2018, Greta Thunberg began a solitary school strike outside the Swedish Parliament to draw attention to the climate crisis. Her action helped inspire school strikes and a wider youth climate movement around the world, with social networks helping the mobilisation spread.

Nepal offered a more recent example.

In September 2025, young people organised digitally and took to the streets amid concerns over systemic inequalities and governance failures. The demonstrations became widely known as the “Gen Z protests”. The 2026 Global Education Monitoring Report’s youth report, produced by UNESCO and the United Nations Youth Office, cites Nepal as an example of young people organising digitally before mobilising in the streets.

Later that year, the UN Resident Coordinator in Nepal described the youth-led movement as evidence that “democracy is alive” and as a form of “civic energy”, with a generation saying it wanted to shape its future and be heard.

The events also showed the risks involved in large-scale mobilisation. The United Nations in Nepal voiced concern over deaths, injuries, rising tensions and violence, calling on protesters to act peacefully and on authorities to ensure that law-enforcement responses were proportionate and consistent with international human rights standards.

Digital mobilisation can help people organise quickly. It does not guarantee peaceful outcomes or immediate institutional change.

More than protest

Youth participation is not limited to demonstrations.

Young people participate in civic life by volunteering, joining youth organisations, creating campaigns, contributing to community projects and taking part in policymaking and consultation processes. The United Nations’ Youth, Peace and Security agenda recognises young people’s role in peacebuilding and calls for their participation in decision-making and peace processes.

Digital platforms can reinforce these forms of participation.

They allow activists to document events, share evidence, monitor commitments and connect movements across borders. UNDP has highlighted how some youth movements use low-cost, high-reach digital tools to track demands and commitments, while tactics and ideas can spread quickly between countries.

One example comes from Iraq.

The youth-focused #PasstheBaton anti-corruption campaign used TikTok and Instagram to engage young people on transparency and accountability. Supported by the Government of Iraq, the European Union and UNDP, it worked with 23 youth and women’s organisations and generated 65 million views within 10 days.

UNDP research in Europe and Central Asia also found that young civic actors saw digital tools as important for mobilisation and visibility, and viewed online and offline activism as complementary.

The change therefore goes beyond simply moving traditional activism online: digital tools can affect who takes part, how quickly networks form and how far a message spreads.

Opportunities and risks

Greater connectivity does not necessarily mean more equal participation.

Digital divides remain significant. Access to the Internet and digital technologies varies by income, geography, gender and other factors. Even among young people, being online does not mean having the same opportunities to participate.

There are other risks too.

UNDP research on youth digital civic participation has identified online harassment, privacy and cybersecurity concerns, restrictions on Internet access, fake news and extremist content as challenges facing young civic actors.

UNDP has also warned that technologies that expand opportunities for collective action can be used for surveillance, manipulation and harassment. Misleading information can spread quickly, while privacy violations and data misuse create additional risks.

Digital spaces therefore present both opportunities and challenges. The aim is not merely to increase access to technology, but to make digital participation safer, more inclusive and more meaningful.

From being heard to having influence

The growing visibility of young people online raises a wider question: what happens after they make themselves heard?

More young people are taking part in discussions on peace, sustainable development, climate action and digital governance.

At the 2025 Internet Governance Forum Global Youth Summit, participants from around the world discussed social media regulation and the future of digital governance. The United Nations stressed that young people’s experiences and views should help shape policies affecting the digital environments in which they participate.

This reflects a broader principle across the United Nations system: young people should not simply be treated as recipients or subjects of policies affecting them. Meaningful youth participation means giving them opportunities to contribute to decisions and their implementation.

Digital tools can help campaigns reach millions, make issues visible and encourage institutions to respond.

But visibility is not the same as influence.

For participation to be meaningful, institutions also need ways for young people to contribute to decisions and see how their participation has been taken into account.

A changing landscape of participation

Every generation organises within a different technological and social environment.

For today’s young people, a civic initiative might begin with a TikTok video, an online conversation or a hashtag. It might then become a petition, community project, demonstration, organisation or proposal put before decision-makers.

Digital tools do not guarantee that young people’s voices will influence decisions. Nor do they replace established forms of political and civic participation.

But they have widened the spaces in which young people can organise, communicate and participate.

The challenge for institutions is not simply to listen to young people online, but to create meaningful ways for them to help shape the decisions that affect their lives and futures.

 

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