 Kony 2012 is a short documentary 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 Ugandan 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 . As of April 1 , 2016 , the film has received over 101 million views and nearly 1 @.@ 4 million " likes " on the video @-@ sharing website YouTube , and over 18 @.@ 6 million views and over 21 @.@ 5 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 . 
