Social media has decided to rebel against content creators and users have started with “the fall of influencers,” a movement that criticizes their figure. Old videos of controversies are resurfacing and new information is coming to light about some of their most viral videos and behaviors.
The campaign has no clear beginning, as for several months now some influencers such as Roro or Marta Díaz have been at the center of various controversies. After their fights in La Velada, the helmet used by Roro or the face reveal of Marta Díaz’s sister, which showed a new beginning in her family, triggered numerous reactions among users and were some of the first moments that began to generate criticism.
However, it was the migration crisis in Ceuta that started the escalation. Rocío Camacho, an influencer with a million followers, decided to make a video about the need to go out onto the streets against the Government because of its management. After that, more influencers such as María Pombo or Jessica Goicoechea decided to join her and champion the complaint.
However, what seemed to be a video of messages and advocacy ended up becoming a target of criticism across social media, alleging that these influencers had never spoken on any social issue and that their discourse was mixed with political ideals and manipulation. “What an ambiguous discourse, ‘Spain does not go out onto the streets,’ but we haven’t seen you at any demonstration in real life, I understand what you mean but it’s a very populist discourse, it would be good to have a little more information,” a user commented.
Comments accusing these content creators of “populism, manipulated content, and lack of information” were added to the videos, according to some followers. After that, few responded to the controversy and let the conflict pass.
However, Ceuta became one of the influencers’ talking points again when Carliyo el Nervio posted a video commenting and attributing to the Government the alleged covering up of the incident in Ceuta with the solar eclipse. After hearing his words, users filed complaints accusing the content creator of “trying to manipulate his audience.” The controversy thus became one of the main triggers of the current campaign.
Instead of calming the matter, her partner Natalia Palacios tried to defend her partner, but instead of fixing the situation she ended up amplifying it, mixing the controversy with her recent pregnancy and the alleged criticisms about her “bad motherhood.” Her words provoked new reactions and further increased the negative messages toward both.
During the eclipse, Violeta Mangriñán joined, deciding to take a contrary stance to the glasses that experts were asking for to protect citizens' vision during this event. Her statements sparked another viral storm for talking about eye health issues without specialized knowledge.
After these controversies, the heat continued to rise and old videos of other influencers unrelated to the conflict resurfaced, such as Lola Lolita's bag, Fabiana Sevillano's vacation, or Roro's comments towards Peru. Criticism stopped focusing on a specific case and turned into a general campaign against various content creators, whom users accused of “accumulating controversies and irresponsible behavior.”
This gave rise to an account, @jymitooo, which has mainly taken on giving its opinion on these topics. Jimy, its creator, has managed to unite numerous users, who have labeled him as one of the drivers of this “fall of influencers” campaign. The networks have thus become the stage for users' own response against content creators in their livelihood.
