People on Twitter are changing their profile pictures black to protest the election of Donald Trump

#twitterblackout and #notmypresident have been trending on the social media platform

Trump's presidency could put off millions of potential visitors to the US (Getty Images)

People have been changing their Twitter profile pictures black in protest against Donald Trump becoming president-elect.

Mr Trump secured wins in the key states of Florida, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and swing state Ohio, ending the election with 279 electoral votes to Hillary Clinton’s 218.

Many voters have begun protesting against Mr Trump’s win however, and have started turning their Twitter profile pictures and cover photos black to demonstrate their opposition.

The hashtags #twitterblackout and #notmypresident began trending on the social media platform, with people sharing an image stating: “#TwitterBlackout. To present that they are opposed to the result of Donald Trump becoming president, Twitter users are changing their profile layouts to plain black profile pictures and headers. This is a way protesters are trying to create unity amongst…”

“Woke up and saw this trending, never agreed to something so fast,” one user write, while another wrote: “Black lives matter, love is love, women are equal to men, stay strong, please.”

Protests and angry demostrations broke out across California, Oregon and Washington in the aftermath of the vote. Tyres and rubbish trucks were reportedly set alight windows were smashed by protesters in California, while around 1,500 people gathered outside the University of California in Los Angeles following the result of the election.

The president-elect said at the start of his victory speech that Mrs Clinton had called him to congratulate him on his win. “Hillary has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time and we owe her a major debt of gratitude to her service to our country,” he said.