Latest / Mini Scroll / The Cost of Accountability Culture

Transcript

The Cost of Accountability Culture · Mini Scroll

0:00
This episode of Infinite Scroll is brought to you by Britta
0:03
again. That's right, one of our
0:05
favorite partners is back supporting both the podcast and
0:08
our hydration needs in 2026. And we're doing things a little
0:13
different this time. Online trends like water talk
0:16
and the Emotional Support water bottle were a nice introduction
0:19
to staying hydrated. But this year we're getting
0:22
serious about our hydration goals with Britta's water filter
0:25
jugs. We're ditching single use
0:27
plastic bottles and enjoying pure, fresh tasting filtered
0:30
water straight from any tap. Britta helps us keep our
0:33
hydration goals on point this year by making drinking water
0:35
feel like an easy daily win instead of a chore.
0:38
Thank you to Britta for supporting the podcast, keeping
0:41
us hydrated, and helping us make 2026 our best year yet.
0:46
Over the weekend, Chapel Rhone shared an Instagram story
0:49
addressing the internet's latest claims against her.
0:52
The singer-songwriter was lying in bed, propped up on her side,
0:56
her phone filming in selfie mode in hand.
0:58
I'm just. Gonna tell my half of the story
1:02
of what happened today with mother and child.
1:06
The story in question is the allegations levelled against her
1:09
by beloved Brazilian born soccer player Georginio Frello.
1:13
On Saturday, Georginio took to Instagram stories to blast the
1:16
28 year olds alleged behavior. His wife Catherine and his 11
1:20
year old stepdaughter were visiting Sao Paulo to attend
1:23
Lollapalooza, with Chapel slated as one of the headlining acts,
1:26
but they also caught a glimpse of the star outside the festival
1:30
grounds. Georginio stated that his family
1:32
happened to be staying at the same hotel as Chapel and spotted
1:36
her during breakfast. What could have just been a
1:38
harmless interaction ended in tears with a man who appeared to
1:43
be a member of Chapel security team being aggressive toward
1:46
Catherine and her daughter. For better or worse, Georginio
1:49
posted about it. His Instagram story prompted a
1:52
wave of backlash against Chapel, emboldened by the seemingly
1:55
never ending conversation around her decisive stance on privacy,
1:59
paparazzi and fan interaction. We're involved with a security
2:03
guard who is not my personal security.
2:06
I didn't even see. I didn't even see a woman and a
2:10
child like I did not. No one came up to me.
2:14
No one bothered me. I did not ask the security guard
2:17
to go up and talk to this mother and child.
2:21
Chapel's video left the Internet divided.
2:23
Some were reluctant to believe that a security guard would
2:26
speak for her without her knowledge or consent.
2:29
Others said that the constant backlash was disproportionate,
2:32
likening it to a modern day witch hunt.
2:34
But arguably the more interesting conversation to
2:37
emerge from this back and forth is about accountability.
2:40
Users have questioned whether Chapel took sufficient
2:43
responsibility for what happened and whether her response was,
2:46
quote UN quote, enough. It's a question the Internet
2:48
asks constantly, and yet no one ever seems to ask the more
2:52
important one. Can we even effectively enforce
2:55
accountability online? From Centennial World, I'm
2:59
Lauren Meisner and this is Infinite Scroll, a podcast about
3:02
Internet culture, the creator economy, and how social media is
3:05
shaping Gen. Z.
3:07
Welcome back to Infinite Scroll, everyone, our third episode of
3:11
the year. I'm so excited to be exploring
3:13
the topic of accountability today.
3:14
It is something that we explore so much here at Centennial
3:18
World. We talk about all the time
3:20
across all of our podcasts, but we've never done a proper deep
3:23
dive into it. So that is what we're bringing
3:25
for you guys today. As always, Please remember to
3:28
rate, review and subscribe. Please Spotify star rate US.
3:30
We're trying to get to 1000 Spotify star ratings.
3:33
Please sign up to our newsletter called Keep scrolling for we
3:36
publish 3 * a month on Fridays and we also have a Patreon.
3:39
If you guys care about the behind the scenes of Centennial,
3:42
sign up to our Patreon because we give you guys three pieces of
3:45
content every single month. Accountability is one of the
3:51
internet's most prominent buzzwords.
3:53
Click on virtually any apology video and there is a clear
3:56
formula. The creator will first issue and
3:59
I'm sorry before adding that it's time for them to be
4:02
accountable for their actions now.
4:04
The concept of accountability has been a significant part of
4:07
Internet culture for years. The very advent of the Notes app
4:10
Apology was an attempt for celebrities to take some
4:12
responsibility for their wrongdoings in a more relatable,
4:16
less formal PR kind of way. And for a time, this strategy
4:21
was working. By 2019, the New York Times had
4:23
characterized the Notes app apology as the medium for quote,
4:26
How we apologize now. But less than two years later,
4:29
Vanity Fair declared that the quote end of the iPhone Notes
4:33
app apology era was upon us. These changes accelerated
4:36
through COVID, when cancel culture truly hit its peak.
4:39
Pandemic induced lockdowns left us inside and online, forced to
4:43
reckon with a polarized digital space completely overrun with
4:47
misinformation. We needed to know where our
4:49
favorite influencer stood on the political spectrum and social
4:52
issues. Users flooded comment sections
4:55
and DMS demanding that creators speak out on these topics or
4:58
face the consequences. At the same time, Internet
5:01
culture enthusiasts came for creators who had been posting
5:04
problematic content for years. During this period, cancel
5:07
culture was omnipresent and absolute, but whether it was
5:10
effective is another question. If you listen to this podcast
5:14
regularly, you likely understand the nuances of cancel culture.
5:17
In theory, it can be a powerful way to hold influential people
5:20
accountable and call out offensive behavior.
5:23
But in practice, it can operate like a modern day witch hunt or
5:27
a form of karmic retribution. Whatever your opinion on cancel
5:30
culture, there's no denying that accountability is a major
5:33
component where users are calling for D platforming and
5:37
boycotting cancelled celebrities.
5:39
True accountability involves taking ownership of harmful
5:41
behaviors and decisions. It may include offering a
5:44
genuine apology for wrongdoing. It might be accepting a mistake
5:47
and following through on feedback from others.
5:50
It may also be an admission of ignorance and a promise to learn
5:53
more. Arguably, the black and white
5:55
approach many Internet users take to cancel culture has
5:58
perverted how we enforce accountability online.
6:01
When we think about accountability, it is actually
6:04
quite a personal phenomenon for both the person who needs to be
6:07
held accountable and the person setting the standard.
6:10
Video essayist Shane Spear made some interesting comments about
6:13
this in a recent YouTube video. They grounded their analysis of
6:17
accountability through an abolitionist view of retribution
6:20
and justice. Accountability first and
6:22
foremost is community based, meaning the person who was
6:26
harmed is centered. And there are no outside jury
6:30
members, just people in the community who personally know
6:33
both parties. It rejects the violence of our
6:36
prison system by avoiding shame tactics, harassment, isolation
6:40
and abuse. It understands that penal based
6:42
punishment seeks to inflict pain and only creates cycle of harm.
6:47
Under true accountability, people who cause harm maintain
6:51
their humanity and dignity, but to face consequences for their
6:54
actions, they may have to be separated from those they have
6:58
harmed, apologize for the harm they've caused, and enter a long
7:02
term restorative process that includes education and behavior
7:07
transformation. The victim, the person who has
7:10
been harmed, is centered in the discussion.
7:13
Sometimes they are even in charge of deciding the
7:16
consequences. Accountability has to be
7:18
voluntary, not coerced. This is obviously hard work.
7:22
It's easier than done, and it plays out even trickier on the
7:26
Internet. Those two way personal
7:28
connections don't exist between celebrities and social media
7:31
users, and it's hard to say if parasocial relationships really
7:34
apply. Complicating this further is a
7:37
coercive nature of these public apologies.
7:40
Creators and celebrities who quote UN quote, take
7:42
accountability are are often between a rock and a hard place,
7:45
pressured to apologize and accept responsibility to protect
7:49
their careers. In this way, accountability
7:51
culture, if we can really call it that, has become a way to
7:55
perform and police morality online.
7:58
And we have fallen deeper into this mentality over the past six
8:01
years, for better or worse. As TikTok democratized viral
8:05
fame, it also democratized accountability.
8:08
Where social media users once focused on holding influential
8:11
people to account, these standards now extend to regular
8:14
people as well. Sometimes this is valid.
8:17
There are cases where a social media user might go viral for
8:20
offensive, vile behavior and should be called out for that.
8:24
But more often than not, we see people being held to account for
8:27
something that they did in a 15 second video that has been taken
8:31
out of context, blown out of proportion, or is simply none of
8:35
our business. Couch Guy is a case in point.
8:38
Yes, we are taking it back to 2021 in case you forgot this
8:41
slightly insane viral moment. It all started when a TikTok
8:45
user named Lauren uploaded a video of herself surprising her
8:48
boyfriend at college. Captioned Robbie had no idea.
8:51
The video showed Lauren walking into an apartment with a remix
8:54
of Still Falling For You by Ellie Goulding playing in the
8:56
background. Her boyfriend was sitting on a
8:58
couch with three other girls before he got up to greet Lauren
9:01
with a hug. Lauren's boyfriend was soon
9:03
dubbed Couch Guy Lauren's TikTok may seem wholesome, but social
9:06
media users were quick to call Robbie a big red flag, claiming
9:10
that his reaction and body language were suspicious.
9:13
Many TikTok users believed he was cheating on Lauren.
9:16
Video soon flooded the For You page, calling for Lauren to
9:19
break up with him and for him to apologize for his lack of
9:23
reaction. While Robbie's perceived
9:25
indifference could be cause for concern, it also might not be.
9:29
It was absolutely unfair for viewers to assume what an
9:32
excited reaction from Robbie it should look like.
9:36
Perhaps Robbie doesn't appreciate surprises.
9:38
Maybe he was just caught off guard.
9:41
The Internet did not know him personally, and because of this,
9:44
trying to hold Robbie accountable for allegedly
9:47
cheating on Lauren was completely inappropriate.
9:50
Another infamous example of accountability culture was the
9:53
reaction to the Coldplay CEO cheating scandal.
9:56
Arguably, the internet's response was more legitimate
9:59
than the couch guy phenomenon. However, the vitriol was still
10:02
directed toward mostly private citizens.
10:04
As a quick refresher, in July of last year, a man and a woman
10:08
were caught in a romantic embrace in what appeared to be a
10:10
suite at the Coldplay concert. When the Jumbotron panned to
10:13
them, their reactions were immediate.
10:16
The man ducked below the frame and the woman turned away,
10:18
covering her face. Coldplay frontman Chris Martin
10:21
clocked the reaction and commented on it all.
10:24
Right. Come on.
10:25
You're OK. Oh, what?
10:29
Either they're having an affair or they're just very shy.
10:31
Within hours of the footage being posted online, users had
10:34
identified the man as Andy Byron, CEO of data engineering
10:38
company Astronomer, and the woman as Kristen Cabot, the
10:41
company's chief people officer. Both were married to other
10:44
people. The video went super viral for
10:47
two key reasons. The obvious one being the
10:50
apparent infidelity, but the second was that Kristen Cabot,
10:54
as Chief People Officer, was effectively the head of HR at
10:57
the company where Andy Byron was CEO.
11:00
The power dynamic and the professional implications pushed
11:02
the story to a whole new level, where Internet users were
11:05
calling on both Andy and Kristen to take some kind of
11:08
accountability for their situation.
11:10
And just days before I'm recording this, Kristen sat down
11:13
for an interview with Oprah in which she opened up about the
11:16
internet's reaction to this moment and how it blew up her
11:19
life. These examples raise a central
11:21
question, Why are social media users so obsessed with demanding
11:25
accountability from literal strangers?
11:28
While it may be harsh, A TikTok creator named Elise put this
11:31
interest and accountability down to our obsession with public
11:34
shame and humiliation, a form of punishment, and entertainment
11:38
for that matter, that has lasted for centuries.
11:40
In her video, Elise explains that true accountability should
11:44
lead to change, and meaningful change takes time.
11:47
But social media isn't willing to wait.
11:49
Because Internet culture moves fast.
11:51
We are all conditioned to expect instant gratification and public
11:55
shaming delivers that someone does something quote UN quote
11:58
bad. The pylon begins and we get the
12:01
hit of excitement of participating in collective
12:03
outrage long before any real change could occur.
12:07
These conditions are not designed to foster
12:10
accountability. Instead, it's mostly a form of
12:13
punishment. And because the Internet is
12:15
always moving like this, all we do when we talk about
12:19
accountability online is bully, harass, shame docs.
12:23
You're wrong, you're bad, you're you're a terrible person.
12:26
Punish, punish, punish and then throw them away.
12:28
There is no room and no time for actual growth.
12:31
And that is very reminiscent of the carceral system as a whole,
12:34
with the heavy focus on retribution versus.
12:37
Rehabilitation. If we operate under Elise's
12:40
analysis that accountability is synonymous with shame online,
12:44
then we should also ask who bears the heaviest burden of
12:47
that shame. Arguably, it's marginalized
12:49
groups, especially women and gender diverse people.
12:53
These groups are disproportionately targeted and
12:55
that dictates who gets held quote UN quote accountable
12:58
online. Intersectionality is essential
13:01
to consider here. Marginalized groups, especially
13:04
black women, are not afforded the same latitude when it comes
13:07
to public accountability. The bar to appear accountable is
13:10
set significantly higher for quote UN quote offenses that are
13:14
far less egregious. This difference, of course, is a
13:18
result of systemic racism and misogyny that continues to
13:21
underpin culture, society, and politics.
13:24
Between name calling, cyberbullying, and more invasive
13:26
harassment like doxing, deep fakes, and revenge porn, shaming
13:30
marginalized groups is baked into the fabric of the digital
13:33
world. Platforms have repeatedly failed
13:36
to address it at scale, and in many cases they can make it
13:39
worse. Laura Bates, a feminist activist
13:42
who authored Men Who Hate Women, covers this closely in her work.
13:45
In her most recent book, she explored how AI is introducing
13:49
new ways to shame and exploit women.
13:51
Most relevant here is her comparison of coercive control
13:54
and image based sexual abuse. Specifically how intimate
13:57
pictures spread without consent are used to weaponize women's
14:01
sexuality against them. In these situations, the victim
14:04
often becomes the one expected to answer for what was done to
14:07
the them, showing us the fine line between shame and
14:10
accountability online. The Fappening illustrates this
14:14
point perfectly. We have touched on this before,
14:16
but in 2014, Reddit users began posting naked pictures stolen
14:21
from Apple iCloud accounts. Although these pictures
14:24
originally appeared on 4 Chan, the R slash, the Fappening
14:27
subreddit became the primary hub for sharing them.
14:29
The women affected were almost pressured to take accountability
14:33
for these pictures being leaked because they had taken them in
14:36
the first place, but of course, they had absolutely nothing to
14:39
be ashamed of. The people who stole and
14:41
distributed those images face far less scrutiny than the
14:44
victims. And what this goes to show is
14:46
when we conflate shame and accountability online, it's
14:49
rarely the people who caused harm that take responsibility
14:53
for their actions. So we wanted to learn more about
14:56
why social media users are so invested in keeping celebrities
14:59
accountable. To do this, we spoke with Paula
15:01
Gelman in a written interview to get a professionals perspective.
15:05
Gelman is a self-proclaimed chronically online girlie as
15:08
well as a licensed therapist with her own private practice in
15:11
New York City. Over the past nine years, Gelman
15:13
has worked specifically with Gen.
15:15
Z and Millennial high achievers dealing with anxiety, depression
15:19
and trauma histories. As she told us quote, it is
15:22
human nature to want accountability from others.
15:24
We can feel a sense of relief hearing someone apologize for
15:27
something they've said or done that has hurt you.
15:30
It also feels good to point the finger at someone else.
15:33
It can relieve you, even momentarily from the mistakes
15:36
that you have made by shining the light on someone else's
15:38
wrongdoings. If you've ever wondered why it's
15:41
so hard to stop playing the blame game, this is a big part
15:44
of it. When we bring the Internet into
15:46
this phenomenon, everything can get amplified.
15:48
People feel emboldened when they're behind the shield of the
15:51
Internet, even though it's not really a shield because
15:54
anonymity barely exists anymore. It removes the person to person
15:57
experience, which can delay any emotional reaction like guilt or
16:01
shame just long enough for someone to post something they
16:04
might regret later. The Internet can also take away
16:06
empathy because we're simply looking at an avatar or words on
16:10
a page rather than a full human being.
16:12
This can fuel both sides saying something offensive or posting
16:16
private video into the void and calling someone out for their
16:19
behavior. No one likes to be others.
16:21
We all want to be part of a group and we all want to be well
16:23
liked. That's simply human nature.
16:25
So part of the fascination with accountability culture is the
16:28
desire to belong. What side are you on?
16:31
Do you agree with the quote UN quote right side and what does
16:34
that say about you? Now that we've explored the
16:37
frequent targets of accountability culture, it's
16:39
also worth discussing its enforcers.
16:42
We have broken this down into 3 categories, the individual, the
16:46
community slash audience, and what we will call the elites.
16:50
Let's begin with the middle category, social media
16:53
audiences. Academic research has examined
16:55
which factors predict public forgiveness when transgressions
16:59
come to light online. One paper by Andrew J Dawson,
17:03
Sarah Williams, and Annie Wilson found that judgments of public
17:06
figures who had made problematic comments were influenced by
17:09
their age at the time and by how long ago the statements were
17:12
made. The audience's political
17:14
perspective also informed how these comments were taken.
17:17
Another useful factor to consider was put forth by Tiktok
17:20
user TIF Chat, who explained what she describes as the quote
17:23
accountability trap. She begins by noting the
17:26
inconsistent expectations of social media audiences regarding
17:30
accountability. For instance, audiences will be
17:32
quick to hold a micro influencer to account but remain quiet when
17:36
a corporation does the same thing.
17:38
Of course, this comes down to the different assumptions and
17:40
beliefs we hold about each entity.
17:42
However, these perhaps out of proportion responses lead us
17:46
down the quote UN quote accountability trap.
17:48
The idea that people like to yell at those they think we'll
17:51
listen, we'll like to yell. At who they think will listen.
17:54
And so if a company is very obviously corporate and does not
17:59
care, they're not going to get cancelled.
18:02
Actually, it's going to be some random Etsy seller who is like
18:07
super responsive to the Internet and has committed a minor sin
18:12
that is more likely to provoke huge rage.
18:16
Similarly, a creator who is obviously unsympathetic to the
18:19
cause is actually not going to get attacked by supporters of
18:22
that cause. Instead it's going to be someone
18:25
that 80% agrees with the cause. But again, has committed 1 minor
18:30
sin. It creates really messed up
18:32
incentives because I think it means that the best way to be
18:36
safe is to actually be a bigger villain.
18:39
Both the TikTok and academic paper show that approaches and
18:42
attitudes toward accountability culture are never really
18:45
neutral. They differ across the board.
18:48
How a public figure might choose to take accountability will
18:50
depend on their industry allies, their broader influence, and
18:54
their race and gender. As we have already mentioned,
18:56
therefore, the way a social media user interprets
18:59
accountability culture depends on factors like politics,
19:03
biases, and even the online community they're part of.
19:06
Arguably, the volatility of online communities indirectly
19:09
effects how accountability culture is practiced.
19:12
Building genuine communities on social media has always been a
19:15
little bit unstable. If it's not collecting data or
19:18
boosting revenue, it's not necessarily a priority for big
19:21
tech. And this is where these
19:23
communities often get caught in the crossfire.
19:26
There is no guarantee a platform will protect the communities
19:28
built within it, and we have seen that play out in real time.
19:32
When TikTok briefly went dark in the United States in January
19:35
2025, communities built over the years suddenly vanished.
19:39
When something can be taken away that quickly, it's only natural
19:43
that people will try to hold on tighter, including the norms and
19:46
expectations that to find their corner of the Internet.
19:49
Accountability culture starts to make more sense through that
19:52
lens. Holding a creator to account is
19:55
not always about justice alone. It can serve as a way to assert
19:58
and protect a communities values, almost like a form of
20:01
collective policing. But collective policing is only
20:04
part of it, because this external pressure is often also
20:07
internalized. In other words, we don't always
20:10
need an audience to hold us accountable online, because
20:13
often we're already doing it ourselves.
20:15
This brings us to the next group enforcing accountability
20:18
culture, the individual. To fully understand this, it's
20:21
helpful to consider the phenomenon of panoptic control.
20:24
For those unfamiliar with this concept, the panopticon was an
20:27
architectural prison design introduced by Jeremy Bentham in
20:31
the late 18th century. The design featured a single
20:34
observational tower that was surrounded by a ring of backlit
20:37
cells. The idea was that guards could
20:39
would monitor all inmates and that inmates wouldn't be able to
20:42
tell when they were being monitored.
20:44
It was a form of constant surveillance.
20:46
French philosopher Michel Foucault used this panopticon as
20:50
an analogy for the way modern society is organized around
20:54
power and surveillance, as it's written in his 1975 book
20:57
Discipline and Punish Quote the major effect of the panopticon
21:01
to induce in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent
21:04
visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power.
21:07
Here, surveillance is permanent, disciplined, and self regulated,
21:12
even when no one is watching. Many commentators and analysts
21:15
have extended Fuko's understanding of panoptic
21:18
surveillance to the digital world online.
21:21
We are always on the brink of being visible, especially on
21:24
TikTok, and most of us know that this level of awareness shapes
21:28
our behavior over time, leading us to self censor, perform, and
21:32
determine what we say based on an imagined audience, whether or
21:36
not anyone is actually watching. With this, surveillance doesn't
21:39
need to be active to be effective.
21:41
The threat of it is enough to keep us in line, where we
21:44
essentially internalize the standards of the audience and
21:47
begin policing ourselves. Perhaps the most obvious example
21:51
of this kind of internal policing is virtue signaling.
21:54
This might look like sharing an opinion on a political issue on
21:57
your Instagram story to signal your values to followers without
22:01
doing anything meaningful to support the 'cause it might also
22:04
be jumping on a hashtag or reposting and infographic
22:07
without genuinely engaging with the people affected by the issue
22:10
at hand. Of course, there is nuance here.
22:13
Raising awareness with your circle can genuinely be
22:16
impactful. But when the primary motivation
22:18
is how it will be perceived rather than the cause itself,
22:22
that is self surveillance at work.
22:25
It's a form of accountability culture in which users police
22:27
their own image and hold themselves accountable before
22:30
anyone else really has a chance because they think it's what
22:33
looks best. Besides audience driven and
22:36
individual policing, there was one last enforcer.
22:39
And at the risk of sounding populist, we are calling them
22:42
the elites for the purposes of this episode.
22:45
That means the people who set and dissect culture for the
22:47
masses. The media and industry often
22:50
pull in opposite directions here.
22:51
Journalism score function, in theory, is acting in the public
22:55
interest, detecting wrongdoing, correcting the record and
22:59
sharing hard, objective truths. That makes the press a natural
23:02
enforcer of accountability culture.
23:05
But the industry operates on money, and that means protecting
23:08
the people who generate it, whether through silence, smear
23:11
campaigns, or actively discrediting those who speak up.
23:15
Mr. Beast is a useful case study.
23:17
Despite allegations in 2024 of misogyny and sexism on the Beast
23:21
game set, including reports that participants were being underfed
23:24
and denied medical care, major partners like Amazon initially
23:28
stayed quiet. When so much is riding on
23:30
someone like Mr. Beast, public accountability becomes
23:34
inconvenient. This tension between media
23:36
scrutiny and industry protection is part of what makes
23:39
accountability culture so difficult to enforce across the
23:42
board. Which raises the question, is
23:45
the Internet fighting a losing battle?
23:47
Can people online ever truly be held accountable?
23:50
In our interview, Gelman argues that while it may be possible to
23:54
hold public figures accountable, it becomes unproductive when the
23:57
call out leads to shaming, something we so often see happen
24:01
within Internet culture dynamics quote it turns sour when holding
24:05
someone accountable crosses into shaming them.
24:07
Shaming is a destructive, ineffective emotion that focuses
24:10
on someone's character and leads to fear, defensiveness and
24:13
withdrawal. Shame says I am bad, whereas
24:16
accountability says I made a mistake and here's how I can
24:18
change moving forward. There needs to be a
24:21
psychological safety in order for accountability to be
24:24
achieved without feeling shameful.
24:26
Without that safety, people feel fearful and tend to hide and
24:29
their mistakes. The problem is, the Internet
24:32
isn't exactly a psychologically safe place.
24:34
Empathy and humility are often lost online, while shame gets
24:37
amplified and spreads like wildfire through crass comments
24:40
and opinions. That being said, when
24:42
accountability crosses into shame, it can negatively affect
24:46
mental health. No one likes being wrong, and it
24:48
feels bad to be called out. But being publicly shamed,
24:51
especially by the peanut gallery that is the Internet, is on
24:54
another level. It can lead to anxiety,
24:57
depression, and lasting distress.
24:59
When you factor in gender and class, the impact can be even
25:02
more severe. Now let's take a look at how the
25:04
changing media landscape has influenced accountability
25:07
culture. Financially, influencer culture
25:10
has eaten into media budgets. Editorially, political
25:13
polarization has pushed outlets toward catering to ideological
25:17
right wing audiences rather than comprehensive reporting.
25:20
And structurally, the rise of digital media has opened the
25:23
door to citizen journalists, allowing stories overlooked by
25:26
mainstream outlets to find an audience.
25:29
While this is a good thing, it has its pitfalls.
25:32
Without journalistic training or editorial standards, the
25:35
mechanisms for holding people to account become weaker and less
25:39
consistent. Take celebrity interviewing as
25:41
an example. Alex Cooper as the host of Call
25:44
Her Daddy is often used as an example.
25:46
Here Alex has interviewed some of the most famous and
25:49
influential people in the world. Kamala Harris, Michelle Obama,
25:53
Kim Kardashian, Chapel, Roan, just to name a few.
25:55
Though this level of access is an achievement in and of itself,
25:59
many critics have argued that the more surface level and
26:01
casual form, let's guess off the hook.
26:04
Commentators like the Swiftologist and Kayla Says have
26:07
made similar observations, noting that celebrity
26:10
interviewers lack the curiosity, empathy, and intensity needed to
26:14
actually challenge public figures.
26:16
Whether you agree with the sentiment or not, it points to a
26:18
broader issue. When the trendy interview format
26:21
and interviewer seemingly prioritize comfort,
26:24
accountability becomes harder to enforce.
26:26
In practice, of course, this extends beyond the media.
26:29
When we see powerful figures across the political, cultural
26:32
and corporate worlds repeatedly escape consequences for their
26:35
harmful actions, it sets a precedent.
26:38
Accountability becomes something that happens to ordinary people
26:41
and micro influencers because this is where we might see
26:43
actual change, even if they aren't the group causing the
26:47
most harm. This disconnect is most evident
26:50
and how grifting has gone completely mainstream in the
26:53
digital space. Living in an algorithmically
26:56
driven landscape of short form video, stripped of context and
26:59
increasingly shaped by AI has made it easier than ever to run
27:03
a grift at scale. We should first note that the
27:05
term grift has somewhat changed over time.
27:08
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a grifter is someone
27:11
who quote gets money dishonestly by tricking people.
27:14
But it's scope has widened for NZ, where it's now commonly used
27:17
to describe anyone lying or running a con, and not
27:21
necessarily a financial one. Writing for The Guardian, Anush
27:24
Chaquilian has tracked how the word has exploded in usage, with
27:27
the Oxford English Dictionary recording more than a doubling
27:31
of written use since 2017. Politicians throw the label at
27:34
opponents, publications use it to describe questionable public
27:38
figures, and TikTok users love to drop the descriptor in
27:41
comment sections. When it comes to the online
27:43
world, specifically Chaquili and explains.
27:46
When you search the term grifter on sites such as Reddit and
27:49
TikTok, it's often used in relation to influencers,
27:52
Wellness gurus, pickup artists, life coaches, crypto Bros.
27:56
So many online subcultures now dabble in essentially the same
28:00
business model, sewing insecurity and then charging
28:02
people with the promise to rid them of it.
28:05
Wherever the algorithm leads you, from sleep coaches for
28:08
knackered new moms to gym rats for lonely boys, you are likely
28:11
being exposed day in, day out to some form of grift.
28:15
Ultimately, when you have creators selling fake horses,
28:18
shilling products, or performing ideological positions that may
28:22
not reflect what they actually believe, it becomes difficult to
28:25
tell where these creators sit. And if you can't tell what
28:28
someone genuinely stands for, holding them accountable for it
28:31
becomes almost impossible. So is the Internet fighting a
28:35
losing battle with accountability culture?
28:37
Maybe there are moments where this mentality can provoke
28:41
genuine change, and for that it cannot be fully dismissed.
28:45
But if this episode has shown us anything, it's that
28:47
accountability culture is flawed.
28:49
It's often weaponized to police morality rather than deliver
28:52
justice, and it's rather ineffective at holding the
28:55
people who caused the most harm to account.
28:58
Maybe we just have to accept that the most effective form of
29:01
accountability was never going to happen in the comments
29:04
section anyway. Infinite Scroll is a podcast
29:08
produced, presented and Co written by me Lauren Meisner for
29:11
Centennial World. This episode was researched and
29:14
Co written by Annabelle Ben David.
29:16
Thank you so much for listening. I love you guys and I will talk
29:18
to you next week. Bye.
29:20
Centennial World Podcast Network operates on Gadigal land.
29:23
We would like to acknowledge the Gadigal of the Aura Nation, the
29:26
traditional custodians of this land, and pay our respects to
29:29
elders both past and present.