[CHANTING]

JACOB SOBOROFF: Right now China's

dealing with one of the largest political uprisings

it's seen since the horrific events

of Tiananmen Square in 1989.

This footage was shot last week in the streets of Hong Kong.

LIZZIE: You can see right there that the police started firing

tear gas into the crowds of peaceful protesters.

JACOB SOBOROFF: Dozens and dozens of people

have been injured.

But this is not 1989, and visibility of social media

is a huge reason people are hoping

this isn't going to turn into another Tiananmen.

LIZZIE: Exactly.

From hashtags to viral videos, student protesters in Hong Kong

are using everything they've seen

succeed since the Arab Spring.

JACOB SOBOROFF: Protests began with a student boycott

on September 22, after communist China reneged

on their promise of free and fair elections in Hong Kong

by 2017.

LIZZIE: That didn't sit too well with the people

of Hong Kong, especially the young people.

[CHANTING]

JACOB SOBOROFF: The demonstrators are now

demanding the resignation of Hong Kong's top official,

and they're being pretty resourceful

about getting the word out.

LIZZIE: This plea for help was released soon

after the protests began, and it's already

been viewed well over a million times.

-As a Hong Konger standing here in Wan Chai, I ask all of you

from all over the world, please help us.

Maybe all of you are born from foreign and democracy states.

You were born with democracy choices.

You have free election right.

But we don't.

Please help us.

JACOB SOBOROFF: And if it looks familiar,

it's because it uses almost the exact same format

as one of the biggest videos of the Ukrainian protests

earlier this year that has almost eight million views.

-I am the Ukrainian, the native of Kiev.

I want you to know why thousands of people all over my country

are on the streets.

We want our courts not to be corrupted.

We want to be free.

JACOB SOBOROFF: It was posted in February

just after demonstrations in Kiev

exploded as a result of new anti-protest laws.

LIZZIE: Just like the drone footage

that we saw earlier in the show from Hong Kong, protesters

in Ukraine have used the same technique to really show

the full scope of the situation.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

JACOB SOBOROFF: To ever get a point of view like this before,

you would have to rent a helicopter, right?

And nobody would ever be allowed to rent a helicopter

in this type of a situation.

Now you throw up a drone, and you can literally

see hundreds of thousands of people just standing there.

LIZZIE: Yeah, I know.

It's incredible.

But people aren't just using video.

I mean, look at the Arab Spring.

That's when we started to realize

how crucial social tools like Twitter

are to relay information.

JACOB SOBOROFF: Also, in Venezuela back in February,

people started to protest about massive inflation,

food shortages, public safety, all

by using the hashtag SOSVenezuela.

[TEAR GAS AND RUBBER BULLETS FIRING]

JACOB SOBOROFF: Ex-pat Haydee Izaguirre

started it by launching the SOS Venezuela Facebook

page as a way to keep connected with her homeland in spite

of massive government censorship there.

LIZZIE: Hashtags aren't the only way

we've seen people unify their message.

I mean, we all remember in Ferguson,

people rallied against police brutality like this.

-Hands up.

Don't shoot!

Hands up.

Don't shoot!

JACOB SOBOROFF: The chant "hands up, don't shoot"

became synonymous with the killing of Michael Brown,

the unarmed teen who was shot by a police officer

back in August.

LIZZIE: And some say the protesters in Hong Kong

may have adopted the gesture after the police there began

tear-gassing the peaceful demonstrators.

[CHANTING]

JACOB SOBOROFF: Just a week ago, China blocked Instagram

on the mainland.

And now they're heavily censoring

Weibo, their version of Twitter.

LIZZIE: With the government so intent on censoring

their people, things like Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube

are the only way we can actually get reliable information.

JACOB SOBOROFF: We put together a playlist

to catch you up on all these stories

and to show you how to get involved.

You can start it here or at the end of the show.

LIZZIE: Also, don't forget, we'll

be in the comments tomorrow night from 6PM to 7PM

after the show, just to answer your questions and hang out.

JACOB SOBOROFF: We'll see you guys there.

But first, to play us out from Ferguson, Prince Ea.

-Along with being smart, we all have to look inside

and change our hearts.

And that goes for white, black, ghetto, suburban, policemen,

and civilian.

No matter what costumes we put on or characters

we like to play, we're all humans at the end of the day.