Off with their virtual heads!
Being cancelled is so last year. Prominent figures deemed “out of touch” are now being sentenced by online activists to a punishment even more severe, known as the “digitine.”
An extreme class of cancellation, the so-called “digitine,” short for “digital guillotine,” involves blocking or otherwise going after influential figures, from A-listers to content creators, who fail to throw their wealth and power behind various causes du jour — such as economic inequality, or the conflict in Gaza.
The first of those sentenced to the “digitine” — the name was coined by a TikToker who goes only by the name Rae — was model/influencer Haley Kalil.
Kalil’s offense? A video of her lip syncing the infamous “Let them eat cake” line attributed to Marie Antoinette, while dressed in a 18th century-inspired floral gown for E!’s coverage of the Met Gala last month.
The since-deleted viral clip from Kalil was slammed as out of touch amid Israel’s war with Hamas, prompting an lengthy apology video posted days later, in which the creator said she was “sorry” for choosing “a sound that you guys could ever possibly feel was malicious in nature.”
In a creator economy where engagement equals dollars, the move to block celebrities and content creators aims to impact the income of the influential to make a point.
“We gave them their platforms. It’s time to take it back,” declared Rae, urging her followers to follow suit by blocking figures with large followings, starting with Kalil, whose follower count dropped after posting the controversial video.
The call to action was the first domino in a cascade of boycotted A-listers who now face scrutiny online for failing to show support for Palestinians — Selena Gomez, Zendaya, Justin Bieber, the Kardashians and even Taylor Swift have caught their share of flak in recent weeks.
Karen Fragoso, an activist who has been particularly outspoken about her own “block list” online, told USA Today that “people need to unite” and be “together virtually” because “the elite need to know that they can’t get away with everything.
People, she added, should “eat the rich.”
“What is to be certainly celebrated at this point is the fact that people are using these mechanisms at their disposal to register their voice and to register their protest and in the process, keep alive issues of human rights violation in the public domain,” associate professor Paromita Pain, who teaches at the University of Nevada, Reno, told the outlet.
While she’s unsure if or how the movement, referred to by some as “Operation Blockout,” will make an impact, she added that the trend “shows us the power of social media platforms and how it can be a force for positive change.”
