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Featured era: 2012
Kony 2012
“The next 27 minutes are an experiment.”
- Featured era
- 2012
- Peak era
- 2012
- Company
- Invisible Children
- Category
- Viral Videos
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On Video
Invisible Children's "Kony 2012"
Plays from YouTube when you press play. Views, length and date from YouTube, October 2026.
About This Video
- From:
- Invisible Children
- Added:
- March 5, 2012
- Length:
- 29:59
What Was It?
Kony 2012 is a short documentary by the charity Invisible Children, featuring its founder Jason Russell. It set out to make Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord's Resistance Army and a fugitive wanted by the International Criminal Court, known around the world so that he would be arrested by the end of 2012.
Released on March 5, 2012, it spread at extraordinary speed, crashed the campaign's website and became the most-liked video on YouTube at the time. Celebrities shared it, a US Senate resolution followed, and the African Union announced a force to hunt Kony.
It also drew heavy criticism. Many, including voices in Uganda, said it oversimplified a complex conflict, gave a misleading picture of where the LRA was active, and encouraged "slacktivism". The Cover the Night poster campaign that April drew far fewer people than had signed up.
Things You Probably Forgot
- "Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come"
- Action kits with posters, bracelets and stickers
- The countdown running through the film
- YouTube Rewind 2012 borrowing its opening
The Story
- 2012 Invisible Children released Kony 2012 on March 5.
- 2012 The Cover the Night poster campaign took place on April 20.
- 2013 A follow-up, What happened to KONY 2012?, was posted on March 6.
Its Legacy
The film is still on Invisible Children's YouTube channel. It is remembered as a landmark in viral activism, for its reach and for the debate it started.
Memories
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