Influencers nowadays are more untrustworthy than not. How do we pick which social media influencers to support and what do we do when they become “canceled”?
It’s not always cancel culture too, sometimes the details of an actual crime come out. Most situations become one word against another making it hard for us as social media users and content supporters to know what is real.
As much as it sucks, it is important as users that we do not enable these creators. It is easy to give anyone attention on social media and it’s never easy to decide who deserves it. Users may feel a connection to these creators and feel as if they have been betrayed or need to defend the influencer when they are canceled.
In reality, influencers are strangers and we as users do not know them. Users are inclined to create parasocial relationships with their favorite creators which are more harmful than good.
Why have we become so trustworthy of those online?
When I was younger I was always told never to believe what I see online. It is so easy to spread information and lies that you can never be too careful when choosing what to believe. It was a better safe than sorry situation.
However, now our entire lives are online. We no longer watch the news or pay attention to the newspaper every morning. Society uses social media to catch up on current events. We even make friends on social media without ever meeting them.
People now use social media for entertainment. Sure people still watch movies and TV shows and have favorite actors, but it’s easier to connect to influencers. For the most part, they are normal people just posting their lives.
Influencers are more mundane than celebrities, thus making them easier to connect to. One could argue that it can happen to anyone.
In all, the phrase “don’t believe what you see on the internet” has been thrown out for the most part. It doesn’t completely apply to our lives today like it did when social media was just becoming a thing.
the potential forming of parasocial relationships
With social media on the rise, viewers are forming parasocial relationships left and right with their favorite creators. A parasocial relationship is when one puts in time and effort for the other person, but the other person doesn’t even know they exist.
Some parasocial relationships can be severe while others can just include defending the creator. It’s something every social media user has. When users feel they are let into the creators’ lives, they build trust with the creator, even if the creator isn’t giving them a reason to trust them.
It may sound creepy in a way, but it’s completely normal to feel a bit attached to your favorite creators. What’s not normal is when these parasocial relationships become extreme. Users do not have the right to know everything about their favorite creators. It’s important to remember they are choosing to share their life online and can choose to keep things private.
At the end of the day, these creators are truly someone users don’t know at all and have no real connection to. These parasocial relationships are what make it so hard to stop supporting someone once they come out as problematic.
The Cody Ko situation
I’m sure most of you have heard of Cody Ko before. He is a YouTuber and podcaster with 5.94 million subscribers on YouTube. He got his start on Vine and went viral when he and his friend Noel Miller started to create creation videos together. A major hit for them was their video “That’s Cringe: Vape Hotbox”.
Overall Cody Ko has seemed to make a name for himself without any crazy scandals. Maybe a few badly aged jokes or a few misunderstandings here and there.
However, this all changed once another creator named Tana Mongeau came out and told her story about how Cody Ko had sex with her when she was 17 and he was 25. Now this situation has been spreading around for a while now, but most recently caught light when Tana mentioned it at a live show of her podcast “Canceled”.
It is being talked about even more now since commentary YouTuber D’Angelo Wallace made a video about it. To get a more in-depth understanding of the situation I recommend watching his video.
What makes this situation “different”
This situation is different from other allegations or scandals because It was kept swept under the rug. Cody Ko had a likable persona in a non-confrontational online community, the commentary community, that people chose to ignore these allegations or simply not pay attention to them.
We cannot ignore these allegations any longer. This situation has become so well known, to his fans and to those who aren’t, that they cannot act innocent in the situation.
So it then made his fans wonder “What do we do?” I must admit, it is a bit crazy to ask yourself after you have learned that a creator you support has had sex with a minor. However, it is being asked because Ko was so well-liked and viewers had formed these parasocial supportive relationships with him.
The simple answer is to stop watching and stop supporting Ko. But because of his status on social media and the connections he has made with his fans, it isn’t that easy. Although Tana Mongeau wasn’t well-liked on social media for a while, that doesn’t excuse Ko’s actions.
It is important to remember that creators can portray characters on camera and social media. Viewers do not know who these people are. They are strangers with an internet presence, that is all.
What should social media users do?
As the TikTok says, let’s think critically.
Unfortunately in today’s day and age, we as users cannot fully trust content creators, ever. We can support them and give them our love all we want. However, when something demoralizing comes out about them it is our duty as a part of the online community to hold them to it.
As individuals, it is important to remember our own values and morals and make sure we stick to them with those we support online. Who you support online can speak to who you are as a person.
So continue to use social media as you do, but pay attention when allegations come out. Do your own research and make your own stance on the topic, but do it blindly. The people on our screens are strangers and for the most part, will always be.
Social media can be harmful for our mental health and finding out bad things about our favorite creators only makes it worse. It is important to create a safe space for yourself online. Check out this article for a few tips and tricks on creating a healthy social media environment.
