What is behind the hounding of Hailey Bieber? Toxic fandom and divisive algorithms | Arwa Mahdawi

The internet is now one big harassment machine - and fans can easily become unhealthily fanatical

So this is embarrassing to admit, but, when I was a tween, I was obsessed with Bush. THE BAND! THE BAND! I adored the lead singer, Gavin Rossdale, and I assumed that one day the stars would align and I would marry him. (The stars made me gay instead.) I spent hours on the dial-up internet inhaling Bush-related content and I harboured a grudge against Gwen Stefani, because she was with Gavin, living my dream. What I didn't do, however, was send Stefani any online threats. Mainly because 1) that would be unhinged; and 2) the internet was very slow and it wasn't easy to instantly harass people online.

Fast-forward a million years and the internet is now one big harassment machine. Fans, tweenage and older, can become unhealthy fanatics very easily. See, for example, the drama between the fanbases of the model Hailey Bieber and the singer Selena Gomez. This saga is too inane to properly explain, but, in brief, the two women have been pitted against each other by their fans because they each dated Justin Bieber (to whom the model is now married). This fake feud was amplified when Gomez joined TikTok, because social media algorithms love pushing divisive content that drives engagement.