Marcel Top's 'We Will Not Be Stopped' Archives Government Social Media Propaganda
Marcel Top, a photographer based in Belgium and London, was born in 1997 and investigates the themes of surveillance and data collection through his work with facial recognition and deepfake technologies. His project 'We Will Not Be Stopped' compiles social media outputs from U.S. government agencies, particularly the Department of Homeland Security and the White House, illustrating a change in communication following Donald Trump's re-election. Top captures footage of deportations, utilizing VHS filters and TikTok aesthetics to mimic user-generated content. In February 2025, the White House shared a video featuring deported immigrants set to a TikTok soundtrack. By scanning these clips at 4800 dpi and stripping away color and audio, Top exposes underlying violent messages, linking them to far-right visual tactics in France and Italy, and repurposing the project title as a form of defiance.
Key facts
- Marcel Top is a Belgian-London based photographer and visual artist born in 1997
- His project 'We Will Not Be Stopped' archives social media content from U.S. government agencies like DHS and the White House
- Top identifies a communication shift after Donald Trump's re-election, with agencies using viral trends and user-generated aesthetics
- In February 2025, the White House posted deportation footage with ASMR captions and TikTok sounds
- Agencies apply VHS filters and grainy effects to simulate 'poor image' aesthetics for perceived authenticity
- Top scans videos at 4800 dpi, removing color and sound to reveal violent core messages
- He references Hito Steyerl's 'In Defense of the Poor Image' but notes government appropriation of this aesthetic
- The project aims to archive content and document individuals and companies behind these changes for future accountability
Entities
Artists
- Marcel Top
- Hito Steyerl
- Cynthia Erivo
- Luigi Mangione
- Aryz
- Francesco Faraci
- Alessia Rollo
- Daniela Edburg
- Nicolas Brunetti
- Łukasz Spychała
- Robin Hinsch
- Francesca Stano
- Jack Kenyon
- Cecy Young
Institutions
- Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
- White House
- ICE
- Jet2holidays
- TikTok
- X
- Collater.al
Locations
- Belgium
- London
- United Kingdom
- France
- Italy
- United States
- Gaza
- Ceuta
- Ukraine
- Palermo