Kony 2012 is a short film produced by
Invisible Children, Inc. (authors of
Invisible Children). It was released on March 5, 2012. The film's purpose was to promote the charity's "Stop Kony" movement to make African cult and militia leader, indicted war criminal and the
International Criminal Court fugitive
Joseph Kony globally known in order to have him arrested by the end of 2012, when the campaign expired. The film spread
virally. , the film has received over 100 million views and nearly 1.4 million "likes" on the video-sharing website
YouTube, and over 21.9 thousand "likes" on
Vimeo, with other views on a central "Kony 2012" website operated by Invisible Children. The intense exposure of the video caused the "Kony 2012" website to crash shortly after it began gaining widespread popularity. A poll suggested that more than half of young adult Americans heard about
Kony 2012 in the days following the video's release. It was included among the top international events of 2012 by
PBS and called the most viral video ever by
TIME.