Social media users are collectively blocking celebrities and influencers who have been silent on Gaza (2024)
Hundreds of celebrities are on the “digital guillotine” as social media users campaign for a #blockout — urging one another to block the social media accounts of big names who have remained silent about the ongoing humanitarian atrocities in Gaza.
Selena Gomez, Zendaya, Drake, Justin Bieber and the Kardashian family are among the many targets. Even longtime fans of stars like Taylor Swift have announced their decisions to block the same celebrities they once followed and admired. (Some celebrities on the block lists expressed concern for both Israelis and Palestinians after Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7 but have not posted publicly about Gaza in recent months.)
Pro-Palestinian activists have been putting pressure on celebrities to show more support for civilians in Gaza for months, stirring a growing sense of disillusionment that reached a boiling point last week when the glitz and glamor of the Met Gala coincided with Israel’s announcement of a military offensive in Rafah.
Viewers of the Met Gala have long compared the event to “The Hunger Games,” the popular book franchise by Suzanne Collins that highlights the dystopian social divide between the wealthy Capitol elite and the impoverished district citizens living under state oppression. But criticism of what many online perceived as an excessive display of opulence grew even more pronounced this year as celebrities posed for photos while pro-Palestinian protesters marched outside.
The backlash bubbled into outrage after the popular social media creator Haley Kalil posted a now-removed TikTok video posing in her lavish Met Gala gown while lip-syncing to the TikTok sound “Let Them Eat Cake,” a quotation famously attributed to the last queen of France, Marie Antoinette, who was sent to the guillotine during the French Revolution. The phrase has come to symbolize the attitude of aristocrats who are out of touch with the realities of the less fortunate.
“It’s time for the people to conduct what I want to call a ‘digital guillotine.’ A ‘digitine,’ if you will,” said TikTok creator @ladyfromtheoutside, who kicked off the movement with her viral video. “It’s time to block all the celebrities, influencers and wealthy socialites who are not using their resources to help those in dire need. We gave them their platforms. It’s time to take it back, take our views away, our likes, our comments, our money.”
Kalil later posted a video apology in which she said she was invited only as a pre-Met Gala E! News host and did not attend the event itself. She drew further backlash when she said she does not speak about Gaza because she is “not informed enough to talk about it in a meaningful and educational way.” Kalil did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Some online pointed to rapper Macklemore as a celebrity who, despite having shared in October that he was “by no means” an expert in Israeli-Palestinian relations, has continued to learn about the conflict while voicing his support for a cease-fire. Last week, he released a song in support of Palestinians.
Kalil, who posted a now-removed video after the Met Gala sharing her excitement at reaching 10 million TikTok followers, has since dropped back to 9.9 million followers. Many of the celebrities on widely circulated block lists have also lost net averages of tens or hundreds of thousand followers per day since the “digitine” began, according to metrics from the social media analytics company Social Blade.
“Yalla, let’s all block the people who we made famous and rich.. who are living in a fantasy world.. destroying our environment, society, harmony and economy, and don’t even put some effort to educate themselves about us, the 99% of the world’s population who made them,” Palestinian journalist and activist Bisan Owda, known for her social media video reports from Gaza, posted on her Instagram story this weekend.
The “digitine” movement comes in the wake of weeks of protest encampments across college campuses nationwide as students pressure their administrations to divest from Israel, leading to mass arrests of students and some faculty members.
But there’s some intra-campaign division over the effectiveness of block lists that center on those who attended Monday night’s Met Gala. Many online highlighted the misconception that celebrities spent $75,000 to attend, noting that invitees typically do not pay for their own Met Gala tickets. And some attendees, like actor Rachel Zegler, have been vocal about Gaza, as well.
Others said that celebrities should not be a focal point for pro-Palestinian activism and that social media users should prioritize talking about Gaza, instead. Still, some online pointed out the impact that an influencer can make with a single social media post: One GoFundMe campaign reached its $200,000 goal less than 24 hours after TikTok creator Yuval Ben-Hayun shared it in a video, asking viewers to donate to help get his friend’s family out of Gaza.
In the days since the “digitine” began, several stars on the block lists — such as rapper Lizzo and influencer Chris Olsen — have posted their first public videos encouraging their followers to donate in support of families in Gaza and aid organizations serving Palestinians.
Some viewers immediately criticized the videos, commenting that they came so late that they appear performative. Others commended them for using their platforms now, citing the videos as evidence the movement is working.
Angela Yang
Angela Yang is a culture and trends reporter for NBC News.
Some social media users are calling out celebrities and influencers who have not spoken out publicly about the ongoing war and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and have started blocking the stars in an attempt to undermine their revenue from brand partnerships.
"The 'Blockout 2024' initiative signifies a collective effort not only to unfollow celebrities but also to impact them financially for their ignorance or erasure of the Israel/Gaza conflict," Zanetta Miller, the owner of Niche PR Boutique, told Newsweek.
Some on social media are pushing a movement to "block" celebrities who they say have been silent on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The "blockout" is a form of protest and is meant to pressure stars to speak up or take a stand against Israel's actions in Gaza during its war with Hamas. Since the war erupted Oct.
The idea is to block celebrities so that a lack of social media engagement affects their lucrative brand deal. If you simply unfollow a celebrity, the algorithm still might suggest a sponsored post of a brand they work with; blocking prevents such posts from appearing on your feed.
Shortly after the Met Gala, TikTok user @blockout2024 began encouraging users to block celebrities on social media. “Block celebrities on social media so they don't earn ad revenue from you,” the user explained in a TikTok, which now has over 2.5 million views.
A TikTok movement is calling for followers to block famous people over their stances on the Israel-Hamas war. It began at the Met Gala. As protests over the war in Gaza unfolded blocks away, last week's Met Gala was largely devoid of political statements on the red carpet.
Critics of Israel's military operations in Gaza are taking aim at celebrity culture. Some social media users are calling out celebrities who have not spoken out about the ongoing war in Gaza, and are blocking the stars in an attempt to undermine their revenue from brand partnerships.
Among the celebrities targeted in the movement are Gal Gadot, Selena Gomez, Drake, Justin Bieber, Hailey Bieber, Beyoncé, Cardi B, Nicki Minaj, Zendaya, Kim Kardashian, Harry Styles, Jojo Siwa, Ellen DeGeneres, Kevin Hart, Dwayne Johnson, Shakira, Kylie Jenner and Taylor Swift.
Since 2006, the Gaza Strip has been controlled by Hamas, an armed group and political party that was founded during the first Palestinian “intifada,” or uprising, against Israeli rule in 1987–93. (The name Hamas is an acronym for “The Islamic Resistance Movement” in Arabic.)
On the other hand, “if someone blocks the celebrity, they completely cut off all interaction with their content,” said Borges-Rey. This decreases the celebrity's audience size, leading social media algorithms to deprioritise their content.
Some people may be surprised to learn that not every celebrity manages their own social media. Like the man behind the curtain, a social media manager most likely will be running a celebrity's social media account to make sure that the online persona they are portraying meets their fan base's expectations.
While these stars are still active on social media, they've chosen to wipe their following count for a number of reasons. Whether it's mental health related or because they use a secret account for their personal friends, it's guaranteed you won't get a follow back from these celebs.
Blocking can be so much more than just sending the other person a signal, or trying to show them you're over it. It can be incredibly implemental to healing after a break-up, and if the relationship you've ended was dangerous or harmful it can be an absolute must for your mental health and physical safety.
Plunkett told CNN that hiding a child's face is a “symbol that you're giving them control over their own narrative”. “Every time you post about your kids, you are chipping away at allowing them to tell their own stories about who they are and who they want to become,” she said.
The conflict has its origins in the rise of Zionism in Europe and the arrival of Jewish settlers to Ottoman Palestine in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The local Arab population opposed Zionism, primarily out of fear of territorial displacement and dispossession.
Blockout 2024 (stylized as the hashtag #Blockout2024), variously referred to as Operation Blockout or Celebrity Block Party, is an online movement to block the social media accounts of celebrities and organizations, related to their silence over or support toward Israel in the war in Gaza.
Barcelona's Portuguese right-back Joao Cancelo, Arsenal's French defender William Saliba, Paris Saint-Germain winger Ousmane Dembele, AC Milan forward Rafael Leao, Inter Milan's Marcus Thuram, former Bayern Munich defender Jerome Boateng, and women footballers such as Jen Beattie from Scotland, England's Leah ...
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