Why did the Facebook group pretending to be ants suddenly exploded and gained over 1.8 million members?

A Facebook group, which is a kind of 'Narikiri' community where members simply comment on posts with photos of ice cream and candy, such as 'Mushamusha', 'Sludge', 'Carry to Queen', suddenly registered. It has gained popularity with 1.8 million people.

1.7 Million People Are Currently Role-Playing As Ants On Facebook
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanhatesthis/pretending-to-be-ants-facebook-group

The ant role-play Facebook group with 1.8 million members, explained by a biologist.
https://slate.com/culture/2020/05/facebook-ants-roleplay-coronavirus-biologist-interview.html

A million people are pretending to be ants on Facebook — and it could be therapeutic
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/million-people-are-pretending-be-ants-facebook-it-could-be-n1204701

The group that pretends to be ants in the colony is rapidly gaining popularity on Facebook. This Facebook group was created in June 2019, but since the action restrictions and lockdowns were done in various countries around the world in March 2020, the number of members has rapidly increased, and as of March, 100,000 people The number of members was 1.8 million as of May 15.

A group where we all pretend to be ants in an ant colony
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1416375691836223/

The activity of this group is that the members pretend to be Ali and comment on the photos posted on the timeline. For example, in the following, a photo of an ice cream is posted with a caption saying, 'Ari, I found an ice cream. I will eat it with me and carry it to the queen.' 'Mushamusha', 'SLURP' (slurping), 'LIFT.TO.THE.QUEEN.' (Carry under the Queen).

According to BuzzFeed News, an international news media, the group has some strict rules: 'The first letter of the word' The Queen 'should be capitalized,' and 'Use photos of drugs instead of sugar. Posts, photos of pee and grotesque toilets are not allowed. Our group is for all ages and should be considered when posting. ' Posts that break the rules will be blamed by other members of the colony and the post will be deleted.

And the eighth group guideline is: 'Don't bring human politics. We exist just for fun. Don't bring human politics and religion into the group. At this time we are Comments on the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19) have been deleted. ' BuzzFeed News reportedly contacted members of the community for comments, but said there was no interview. Please work only for the Queen.

It is considered that the popularity of the group is largely due to the role play that eliminates the social unrest that is currently occurring as described above. There are several role-play groups on Facebook where users play the role of `` ghosts possessed in one condominium '' or `` employees working in the same company '', and it seems that many were created around 2019, but 2020 The number of users in other groups has increased rapidly since March of the year.

“We're exhausted by the bad news right now,” said Alison Cohen, a biologist at the University of California, San Francisco, who is actually part of the “Ari Pretend in the Colony” group. Is easy to operate, and many, especially young ones, are accustomed to the agenda, marketing campaigns, and the political things behind it. The simplicity and purity of the looks like great. '