As I was scrolling through TikToks just like every other evening, I saw Doja Cat’s name trending because she had made some colorist remarks. There are many other creators who have been in a similar position to Doja’s. would you react if your favorite influencer said or did something offensive? Do you unfollow them or ignore it? Many people on social media pick and choose who they want to cancel. Influencers should be held accountable for their mistakes but we also need to leave room for growth and character development

“Cancel culture itself is very toxic…people get sent death threats and hate, if you really cared about the situation you are supposed to tell the creator why you believe what they said is wrong, and educate them so that they can learn from it and so can the audience,” sophomore Amina Ali said.

When holding influencers accountable, you also have an impact on the younger audience. For example, if the majority of the influencers used racial or homophobic slurs, it would become normalized and everyone would start using those terms on a daily basis because the people they look up to are saying these things. When you send hate and death threats the younger audience see these things and they might think it is okay and start doing it.

“If my favorite influencer did something I do not agree with, I would look for a genuine apology, and if the apology was not sincere, I would just unfollow them, not send hate, because at one point in my life they were one of my favorite people,” senior Yasmine Cumar said.

In an article with Social Media Week LA, influencers reflected on how “these platforms that were made to connect us and bring us closer are slowly tearing us apart,” and it is true. There are many influencers that have quit social media because of body shaming and hate in general. Plenty of big creators have spoken out on this situation and how it really affects them, and their mental health.

In an article from People.com, “by having the blessing of having a platform you should use it for good,” YouTuber Ricky Dillion said.

There is a lot of controversy on social media, not everyone is going to agree and support the same things. Racism is not a debate, it should not be something that some people agree with and other disagree with, these are basic human rights. We need more influencers who advocate for those who cannot. Charli Damelio and Amelie Zilber are one of the many influencers who use their platforms to spread awareness on issues going on around the world, not just in America, and we need more people like them. On their Instagram and twitter accounts they have many links where you can sign certain petitions and websites to donate to, and not all influencers do that so good for them.

“I don’t know why people rarely talk about their scandals, if it were any other influencer who did those things they would’ve been cancelled so fast… nobody cancels the New Jersey boys because they think that they are cute…it is not hard to be a decent person,” Ali said.

Pretty privilege does exist in the social media world and its wrong. People should be held accountable no matter how they look. Certain people should not be excused for their mistakes because of their looks. The New Jersey boys are a very diverse friend group of five boys who are from New Jersey. They have been called out plenty of times for saying the n word; back in January, and recently a video of them imitating Asians and disrespecting their languages has resurfaced and many of their supporters are not okay with this. It is really disturbing that they would make a video saying that stuff when one of the boys in the group is Asian. But once again people talked about it for a day or two, there have not been any apology videos toward the Asian community from them, and most people are not talking about it anymore. They keep saying they matured and learned from their mistakes after every scandal, but it is the same issue every time, racism.

“How many times do they need to get exposed for them to actually stop repeating their same mistakes…if it happened only once and they apologize, ok good for them, but it’s the same thing over and over again…and its usually the same influencer or their friends each time,” freshman Dol Aden said.

One of the many ways we can hold influencers accountable without tearing them down and affecting their mental health is to just inform them about the issue. I have witnessed many people use the n word on these apps, and one time it was this girl who did not know why she was getting so much hate in the comment section. It is rare, but sometimes the person might actually not know what they did wrong. But if the issues have come up before with this same person then they obviously do not care and they are ignorant, just do not give them the fame and attention that they are seeking.