About This Project:
Picture this: You’re scrolling through your favorite outlet of social media, something like Instagram, YouTube, or Twitter. As your scrolling, you see a random personality that you’ve never heard of before either crying or showing intense emotion. What’s your next move, keep scrolling or check the comments to see who they are and what’s causing this emotional post? At least for me, I always check the comments and the account to make sure I’m in the know, but why is this stranger on the internet crying on my phone screen? It’s not entirely a coincidence that this emotional wreck has ended up on our algorithm. Notably, there has been an increase in the amount of pathos-pulling content seen on both casual and frequent social media users’ algorithm. I don’t know if you’ve ever taken note when coming across these types of videos, but there tends to be a substantially larger number of views, likes, and comments on videos that invoke emotion from the viewer. Now, these can of course be videos that are focused on humor to get a rise in viewership, but oftentimes creators won’t go this route due to a lack of personality or profound editing skills. Usually, in my personal experience, I noted the creators that occasionally post content that gets the viewer to feel empathy, sympathy, or pity generate a significant amount on interaction for that creator. I would go so far as to propose that these platforms are rewarding emotional expression with digital visibility and engagement, causing users to strategically perform vulnerability- resulting in a transformed digital intimacy marionetted by algorithmic incentives and increased viewership which ultimately causes viewers to have a diluted lack of empathy towards peers.
A prime example of this empathetic delusion is the case of makeup guru Laura Lee. In this case, back in 2018, there were a number of tweets that resurfaced of the content creator casually tweeting problematic phrases and assumptions having to do with race. (See image 1)
Tweets like the one seen in Image 1 resurfaced, forcing Lee to create a video that addressed the tweets and was intended to be an apology for her fans. However, intent is not always outcome and the video that Lee produced ultimately forced her to take an indefinite hiatus from the platform all together. The thumbnail for the video became a meme after its reception involved the creator being mocked, harassed, and laughed at for a visibly ingenuine apology. Crying with no tears, failure to truly address the issue, and taking too much time to respond all played into the poor reception of the apology. The thumbnail and video can be seen in Image 2.
But what is the relevance of this video to the point of this writing? I’m glad you asked. “Apology” video’s like Lee’s sparked a revolution of fake apologies, crocodile tears, and ingenuine sincerity that all brought those creators an influx of viewership (albeit negative viewership and hatewatching) that generated an abundance of hate and disdain from viewers. A lot of these videos released before the comment sections could be turned off, and the comments under Lee’s video were a vast majority of insensitive trolls that were solely focused on “clowning” the creator. Though much more common on modern social media as opposed to 2018 social media, comment sections are becoming increasingly hostile which is causing younger generations to grow desensitized to the overwhelming presence of hate, ultimately numbing users’ sense of empathy.
Another popular video that caused a stir amongst social media users was the James Charles and Tati Westbrook “BYE SISTER” phenomenon, in which Tati Westbrook made claims against fellow beauty content creator James Charles for inappropriate sexual behavior at private events and being shady behind the scenes. In a video titled “BYE SISTER” (See Image 3), Westbrook uses 40 minutes to tell-all about the behaviors Charles was secretly engaging in, with revelations about oral sex-talk at a birthday dinner to denying entrance into Coachella of that year.
This video caused an uproar all across social media, with Charles consequently losing around two million followers on YouTube and several hundred thousand followers on Instagram. The “BYE SISTER” video also caused an outpour of hatred towards Charles, on all of his and Westbrook’s social media platforms. With so much hate directed at him, Charles uploaded a response video titled “NO MORE LIES” (see image 4), where he addressed every single claim that Westbrook had made in her original video. This video was met with a mixed reaction from fans, with many forgiving Charles for addressing the claims, but with some disliking him further.
While this video did a great deal of damage control for James Charles, many fans still criticized his vulgar behavior patterns. However, Charles was no longer alone in the hate storm, with Westbrook receiving a skyrocketed amount of hate comments and trolling under her original video. While seemingly needless and unwarranted, this drama and disdain across social media caused both creators to step back from posting for an extended period to “focus on themselves”. While this is just another example of hatred spread across various social media, this hatred subconsciously creates a feeling of empathy (or lack thereof). If it becomes seen too much or too common to a viewer, eventually that viewer will feel a decreasing sense of said empathy, turning them numb and desensitized in everyday life.
The overall relevance, for both of these examples, is that these videos were created not solely as a call out, but to increase viewership on the algorithm for each respective creator. In her article, “Algorithmic Sociality, Digital Intimacies, and Gendered Hierarchies of Power on Dating and Sexual Networking Apps” Ann Clark mentions that algorithms often privilege certain creators’ behaviors and content which often leads to increased visibility and engagement for those creators. In this case, the behavior creating this jump on the algorithm is the intimate vulnerability displayed by these creators in their unique videos. For you, the viewer, specifically, if you do something inappropriate or are called out by a friend for a specific behavior, is your gut reaction to film a video about it and address the public? Probably not, you probably keep that private and intimate rather than attempt to increase the algorithmic flow of your social media accounts. When these creators produce this intimacy online, they are subconsciously partaking in this algorithm boost caused by this dramatic display of emotions.
Works Cited: Abad-Santos, Alex. “Laura Lee, Jeffree Star, and the Racism Scandal Gripping Beauty YouTube.” Vox, Vox, 28 Aug. 2018, www.vox.com/2018/8/28/17769996/laura-lee-jeffree-star-racism-subscriber-count.
Charles, James. “No More Lies.” YouTube, 18 May 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFvtCUzfyL4.
Ezra Fitzgerald. “BYE Sister - Tati Westbrook Deleted.” YouTube, 4 May 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUvMi1_kW5A. Accessed 6 Mar. 2025.
“Laura Lee Apology Video with Original Captions.” Www.youtube.com, www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYVmWxitVSQ. Accessed 22 Apr. 2021.