TIME's Person Of The Year Is The "MeToo" Movement

The anti-harassment #MeToo movement has been named Time magazine's Person of the Year.

In the wake of revelations about Harvey Weinstein and other men, millions have shared their stories about being sexually harassed and assaulted.

The announcement was made Wednesday on NBC's "Today" show, where longtime host Matt Lauer was recently fired amid harassment allegations.

"This is the fastest moving social change we've seen in decades, and it began with individual acts of courage by hundreds of women - and some men, too - who came forward to tell their own stories," Time editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal said on the "Today" show.

Felsenthal referred to them as "the silence breakers."

Other finalists included President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping and quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

Twitter confirmed to CBS News in late October that over 1.7 million tweets had included the hashtag "#MeToo," with 85 countries that had at least 1,000 #MeToo tweets. 

The hashtag was inspired by actress Alyssa Milano's call to action on Twitter, and celebrities from Reese Witherspoon to Olympian McKayla Maroney shared their personal stories and experiences with sexual harassment.

But the original "Me Too" movement was started over a decade ago by activist Tarana Burke.

"'Me Too' started, not as a hashtag, but as a campaign from an organization that I founded: Just Be Inc.," Burke told CBSN in October. "And empowerment through empathy was the thing that I felt helped me, was that other survivors who empathize with my situation help me to feel like I wasn't alone and gave me entry to my healing journey," Burke told CBS News' Reena Ninan.