The suggestion for the use of posters with the saying originated on the message board /pol/ of 4chan, with the intent of provoking reactions. Media coverage of the event, including Fox News host Tucker Carlson asking 'What's the correct position? That it's not okay to be white?', was seen as reacting in the way that the trolling campaign had intended. The slogan has been supported by white supremacists including neo-Nazis.
Posters and stickers stating 'It's okay to be white' were placed in streets in the United States as well as on campuses in the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom. A /pol/ user described it as a proof of concept that an otherwise innocuous message could be used maliciously to spark media backlash. ' It's okay to be white' ( IOTBW) is an alt-right slogan which originated as part of an organized trolling campaign on the website 4chan's discussion board /pol/ in 2017. A sticker with the slogan publicly displayed in 2017
