Can anything be done to reverse the recent targeted campaign of hate against Hailey Bieber?

As Maria has said many times in her Celebrity Social Media posts, if for whatever reason you’d like to feel even more terrible about the state of the world, cruise through the comments on Hailey Bieber’s social media accounts. The hatred that has been directed at her, for years now, is horrific, and it’s a miracle she’s able to go about her life, personally and professionally, given the consistent toxicity that comes her way. This is making headlines today because there’s an influencer who’s just talked about a recent targeted campaign to clown on Hailey.

Francesca Farago is best known for Too Hot To Handle and Love is Blind. She also has a big following on Instagram and TikTok. The other day she shared this on Snap – this video is two minutes and explains the whole situation:

https://www.tiktok.com/@ghstofdrws/video/7490599519625694486

So, basically, there are people out there who want to amplify this trend. And they’re willing to pay other content creators to do it. Of course part of this is wanting the trend to… trend …but the other significant part of it, as Francesca says, is to mess with Hailey. Because this is a bloodsport for some people. And it’s another example of what has been increasingly normalised online, even though few people are willing to admit it.

But we saw this happen with Amber Heard. And we keep seeing this happening with Meghan Sussex. Also Blake Lively. Like, sure, sure, in the ongoing saga of Blake vs Justin Baldoni, it’s not just about whose legal complaints are more credible – like go through the legal documents, believe who you want to believe – but isn’t it undeniable at this point that there was an alarming amount of crazy ass social media activity against Blake Lively from the time of the release of It Ends With Us that went even more nuclear in December when she filed her legal position?

And yet, the excuse that keeps coming up from various corners of the internet, on messages boards and in the comments, is that all of the anti-Blake mess is “organic” because she’s just that unlikeable. But there’s been a mountain of evidence that the algorithm is very rarely organic – specifically because it’s been so effective at advancing narratives for (often sinister) political gain and also commercial interest. The alt-right has figured out a way to weaponise this for their own motivations – Taylor Lorenz wrote about this last month. To be clear, I’m not saying that everyone who believes Justin Baldoni is an alt-right operative or has been brainwashed by the alt-right. What I’m saying is that the magnitude of anti-Blake Lively rhetoric that has exploded online is, for sure, fueled by a targeted and deliberate and misogynistic strategy to discredit her, which Justin Baldoni is benefitting from. Meghan Sussex is also a victim of this kind of strategy which seems to have only gotten more sophisticated since Amber Heard was dragged down. Hailey Bieber’s been dealing with it for a long, long time. And so far, Francesca Farago seems to be the most high-profile influencer to actually confirm that this kind of sh-t is happening.

As Sarah just wrote back to me when I sent her this post for review, “it's literally paying people to play to our worst selves. And it is amplifying misogyny at a time when women's independence and rights are already under attack.”

If I were John Oliver on Last Week Tonight, this segment would end with a “so what can we do about it?” The problem is, I don’t f-cking know what to do about it. Doing something about it would mean that I think it’s reversible. Is it reversible? Let us know what you think at The Squawk. (App link here)