How Social Media Facilitates Grooming
Trigger Warning: This article discusses inappropriate relationships between adults and minors. Please view at your discretion.
Social media can allow regular people to gain millions of followers, wealth, and recognition. The interactive nature of social media allows fans to have direct contact with their idols. However, this can create dangerous situations for fans if social media influencers take advantage of it. A notable example of how people can be taken advantage of via social media is the unfolding situation surrounding James Charles, a beauty influencer who gained massive fame from YouTube, with most of his fans being children and teenagers.
Charles, who is 21, has been accused of exchanging explicit messages and/or unsolicited pictures with at least four minors this year. When the minors came forward with photographic evidence of Charles displaying inappropriate conduct, many of his fans were disturbed and demanded an explanation. Charles blamed the minors and accused them of lying about their age. The sincerity of his apology is called into question due to the repeated nature of his offenses. Whether or not the victims lied about their age should not be the main takeaway of the situation. Charles should never have been engaging with his impressionable, young fans sexually in the first place.
Charles is just one example of many influencers that have taken advantage of the power they have amassed through social media. This situation is part of a larger conversation surrounding social media and how it can facilitate grooming. There is a very unbalanced power dynamic that exists between fans and celebrities. The way that young fans often idolize celebrities makes them vulnerable to those who have harmful intentions. In many cases, young fans may engage in behavior that they would not normally condone because they don’t want to upset their idol. This dynamic is especially harmful with social media influencers, who have specifically direct relationships with their fans. In Charles’ case, he approached each of the victims through social media.
Grooming is also another issue that social media enables. Grooming happens when an adult develops a personal relationship with a minor to gain their trust. They then use this connection to exploit and manipulate the minor. Social media plays a role in grooming by providing a medium for groomers to talk to vulnerable young people. This topic has not been thoroughly addressed, and little to no action has been taken to prevent this from happening.
The situation with James Charles is not the first of its kind, and it will likely not be the last. There needs to be action taken towards protecting young children on the Internet. The predators involved must be held accountable and face repercussions for their actions.
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