The March meme drought is really affecting the memeconomy world, turning some TikTok creators into "1500s navigators" trying to "colonize" YouTube Shorts to preserve brainrot meme culture and get rid of dead internet comments that have purportedly infested YouTube for the last few years.

@cosmoasteria SPREAD THE WORD!! @Funny guy #xyzbca #fyppppp #dontletthisflop #cosmoasteria #colonization #ytshorts #slimetok ♬ PMO by Civ – Civ

The act is scheduled for March 25th, 2025, when thousands of unemployed netizens will take over the comment sections of viral videos on YouTube Shorts, post brainrot memes and share many other forms of TikTok-esque content to make sure March has "new" memes, and, in case the U.S. TikTok ban does happen, they'd have new land to grow dubious quality memes.

Let's explore the "YouTube Shorts Colonization" movement and its memes.

What Is The YouTube Shorts Colonization?

The YouTube Shorts Colonization started after two major events: the March 2025 meme drought and the April 5th, 2025, deadline for ByteDance to comply with the United States Supreme Court's demand to sell TikTok to a U.S.-based entity or face a nationwide ban.

TikTok user @leepicdude96 pioneered the movement, calling other creators on March 13th in a post showing the Landing of Columbus painting with the text overlay "YouTube Shorts colonization March 25th."

The call-out suggests TikTokers post brainrot on the platform to replace "dead internet comments," which references a conspiracy theory claiming most of the internet has been taken over by artificial intelligence and most of the content on the web is fake and not produced by real humans.

The goal of the movement is to influence YouTube Shorts' algorithm and users to mimic TikTok's memetic format, while also getting rid of Dead Internet comments on the platform.

For a full take on this particular conspiracy theory, you can check out this explainer that covers the gist of it.

How Is The YouTube Shorts Colonization Being Memed On TikTok?

As the YouTube Shorts colonization movement gained traction, creators discussed plans and strategies for what type of content they would flood the platform.

For instance, TikTok user @junoisafreak posted a brainrot video asking TikTokers to move to YouTube Shorts on March 25th, as the platform is "the closest thing we have to TikTok, as it is 90% recycled TT content."

@junoisafreak #funny #youtube #youtubeshorts #shorts #tiktok #pmo #memes #trending #trendingmeme #brainrot #dih #colonization #tiktokban ♬ original sound – Blockboy19

On March 17th, 2025, TikTok user @_based_pole__posted a series of memes and illustrations detailing some of the war tactics for the YouTube Shorts colonization as the movement spread online.

As for now, how this "colonization" will unfold over the next two weeks is unknown, but with the planned date coming up, we should learn more soon enough.

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For the full history of the YouTube Shorts Colonization meme, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's entry for even more information.