TikTok in today’s modern world is one of, if not the most used, apps on our phones. If it’s not TikTok, it’s an Instagram Reel or a YouTube short. If it’s not your account that you post on, then it's an account you use to watch and send them to others. This endless cycle of posting, liking, sharing, and creating has become a norm, leading to the normalisation of constant engagement with creators and their lives. What’s the inevitable consequence? Cancel culture.
I’m sure we have all heard of the term “cancelling”. We’ve seen many influencers get cancelled and ostracised from social media; one wrong move could be the end of a career. There could now be thousands of notifications and comments flooding their inbox, taunting them for what they have done. However, like the fact that there are two sides to a story, there are two sides to cancel culture.
On one hand, cancelling occurs when a fandom or even general users discover something controversial about a mainstream creator. This could be a major issue and allegation against them, caused by their actions, resulting in an influx of hate and ostracising to “get off TikTok” or “stop making videos”. The majority of cancel cases we see on the app emerge like this, and often lead us to believe that major creators are prone to having a mistake of theirs exposed, regardless of whether we loved them. While this side of cancelling demonstrates that an audience will not stand for those who commit serious wrongdoings to just “get away with it”, there is also the side of cancelling that does so for the sake of it.
Whether you love or hate some creators, their past ‘actions’ prompt the rise of cancelling and hate against them, and as social media users, we are often influenced heavily by the opinions we see on these platforms. In cases where the alleged controversy or wrongdoing is disproved, the social impact of cancelling, regardless of whether it is a true accusation or not, was strong enough to convince millions to contribute to the defamation of character without fully knowing the situation. It was done with no real evidence or motivation, rather than to conform to the actions of the majority of social media users.
This is a dangerous form of peer pressure, which proves social media is not just a space to go through the cycle of watching, posting and sharing. It’s currently a place of normalised hate, whether it's to call out the actions of a creator or to follow those of viewers. This needs to change. While standing up for what you believe in is to be commended, doing it through the ways of cancel culture or with no real purpose will only result in more harm. There are two sides to cancel culture, and now that you have realised them, should we cancel it altogether?
Image credits courtesy of Serious Business Blog
