The Streisand Effect on Social Media
How reactionary outrage against controversial posts increase their reach and fuels divisiveness.
Anyone who’s followed me for any amount of time on social media is no stranger to my sharing of controversial posts and outrageous takes. The ephemeral nature of twitter’s timeline format incentivizes the shock value of the news, headlines over substance, to get attention and reach for whatever you’re trying to share.
I’m no stranger to backlash and derision surrounding my controversial commentary on the platform, as I’ve often made a small hobby of challenging the preconceptions of libertarians in the bluntest and most offensive manners imaginable. Groups like Fakertarians and others have labeled me as a terrorist sympathizer for the things I’ve posted. Yet, what they’ve failed to realize is that with each new bout of outrage, my reach, my audience, and my brand grows in response to their outrage, and in large part thanks to their sharing and spreading of my content in anger.
Well, this week I broke all my expectations of accidental reach, and accidental growth, by sharing a screenshot that was forwarded to me in the middle of the night by a friend. It was a simple screenshot of a post from Reddit, of a parent ostensibly asking for advice on how to deal with their teenage child, who had decided NOT to transition as a transgender individual, and instead wished to cease the medication and remain a boy. The mother’s response in this story was to crush up the pills and slip them to her “daughter” unknowingly to make sure she transitioned.
To suggest that such behavior, drugging a child without consent or knowledge, be considered child abuse, was apparently enough to draw the ire of the American Left, and anger Twitter “activists” from across the internet descended onto my page to tell me how awful of a human being I was. The post I shared ended up being a fabricated troll post from Reddit, not a true story, but the truth of the situation had no bearing on my comment that such activity should be considered child abuse.
Well, needless to say, after tens of thousands of retweets, millions of impressions, and no less than 180 death threats or demands for my suicide finding their way into my Direct Messages, and several days of notifications I couldn’t keep up with, and ten thousand comments I had 0 intention of reading, the reach of my post finally left Twitter. This morning I was surprised to see that Reuters had conducted a fact check of my post and The Independent had published an entire article about how awful it was, labeling me a “Libertarian Journalist.”
The outrage led to over 1,000 new followers, new patrons, and newfound support, as those who hate me tried to leverage their hatred to cancel me. The Streisand effect struck again, this time to boost my bad take to stardom!
Subversive #67: “Try Not To Laugh” feat. Adam Nutter
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Last night I sat down with Commedian Adam Nutter to talk about this drama, and how it’s creating perversive incentives for reactionary content online. The more people you upset, the more people will share your content and grow your reach, so there’s no reason to not be as offensive as possible with every take.
We also covered a lot of the ongoing drama within the Libertarian movement, and talked about Adam’s upcoming trip to New Hampshire to perform at the SHELL in Rolinsford on the 30th of April! (PS Get Your Tickets Now!)
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