Social media users are blocking celebrities and influencers for supporting Palestine

Every Met Gala has some type of controversy, whether it’s about dress code and theme, the guest listor a now infamous elevator fight at an after party. Since it’s 2024, it’s only fitting that the outrage started this year over a TikTok audio track.

In a now-deleted video, an influencer named Haley Kalil shows off her elaborate floral dress and headpiece as she prepares to host a pre-Met Gala red carpet event. Her faux pas was using a background audio clip taken from the 2006 film. Marie Antoinette, in which the main character smiles and utters one of the most famous (and spurious) lines in history: “Let them eat cake.” The sound has been circulating on TikTok for months, used mainly in makeup tutorials, fashion videos and the like.

He reaction It was fast and brutal. The public compared the event with He The Hunger Games, a dystopia where the rich sit back while everyone else fights to the death. TikTok users flooded Kalil’s comments saying she was clueless, insensitive, or purposely trying to spark outrage. Kalil insisted it was an honest mistake, but the optics were bad: As thousands of people die, starve and are displaced in Gaza, reveling in opulence will inevitably upset some.

For seven months, social media audiences have watched violence rain down on Palestinians in Gaza following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. Instagram feeds have been flooded with infographics, charts and gruesome images of death and destruction. TikTok, once an app known primarily for its ridiculous dances, has become a battleground for shaping the public narrative around the long-running conflict between Israel and Palestine. For many, especially younger ones, all of their exposure to the conflict has been through social media, rather than learning about it on a college campus, through family, or through traditional media. It makes sense, then, that these same platforms have become an outlet for their responses, whether in the form of frustration, activism, or some combination of the two.

At the same time as Kalil’s video was being debated and discussed, a seemingly unplanned popular movement called “Lockdown 2024” was gaining strength. Last week, a TikTok user shared a video about blocking celebrities on social media platforms to hinder their reach and, by extension, their earnings from ads or sponsored content. The video was a response to clips from the Met Gala interspersed with news footage from Gaza, and the intended message was clear: celebrities don’t care what happens to anyone else. The least normal thing people could do is try to isolate the powerful however they can.

Since then, a litany of “block lists” have circulated, created by different people and for different reasons. Targets vary, but Kim Kardashian, Tom Brady, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez frequently appear on the list, along with many others. (Unsurprisingly, Kalil has also been mentioned.) It’s a diffuse movement with no established leadership or stated goals, but it has a clear resonance: tens of thousands of posts have been made on TikTok and Instagram using related hashtags, and the comments sections are filled with “#blockout” and pro-messages. Palestine.

The lockdown coincides with more direct forms of mutual aid, with pressure directed at celebrities and influencers to promote these efforts. Sending funds and other resources to Gaza has been difficult in recent months due to the legal system, collapsing infrastructure and Israel’s physical situation. help lock enter Gaza. Some content creators have publicly called on celebrities to support organizations like Operation Olive Branch, a grassroots effort to raise funds directly for Palestinian families. Artists and creators like lizzo and green hank have posted in support of the organizations, prompted in part by comedian Erin Hattamer’s call for fundraising.

Social media-based activism can be fleeting: followers lose interest; the momentum decreases; and the range of movements is limited by algorithms. To be fair, the lockdown is still in its infancy and it is unclear whether it will have a measurable impact. But for a conflict that plays out through short videos, live selfie-style updates, and Instagram posts, this probably won’t be the last we hear about it.