The Toxicity of Online accounts

Being a part of an online fandom can be a fun, exhilarating and friendship building experience. There’s no place more welcoming than a community that likes the same things as you, however there is a massive downside to an online presence whether you’re a celebrity or a Joe Bloggs. Having a presence online can open up a whole word of negativity and people often hide behind screens and say some of the most vile things to others because they feel untouchable. 

In my other article I worked on calling out the PR stunt that Louis Tomlinson and Zara McDermott of Love Island fame are currently involved in which will probably yet again open me up to the vitriol from the side of Louis fandom that believe that he’s straight and in a relationship. This has been a common occurrence over the last few years. I have accounts attempt to doxx me, threaten to share my husband and children’s private information online, been called a hag, a bitch and worse. I’ve had my looks criticised, been made fun off, been called fat, ugly and much more. I’ve been told to kill myself, been told that I’m too old to be part of a fandom and been told I’m not a real fan anyway as though my money isn’t as good as others because I believe Louis is queer. 

That’s just the tip of the iceberg online and I’m not alone in suffering from this abhorrent behaviour online. I’ve seen friends chased offline, seen bullying, threatening behaviour and had my account cloned by a 17 year old who was coerced by someone because I was fighting for justice for Liam and calling out Kate Cassidy, Roger Nores and Lulu Miranda for their part in Liam’s death. Many of my friends have been targeted too and I currently have 228 screenshots of abuse on my phone from last October- 7 months and that’s the level of abuse I’ve experienced on Twitter or X as it is now called. 

Online bullying and harrassment seems to be the norm for the solo/ anti side of the Louis/ Harry/ One Direction fandoms. Many people have been targeted and last Friday Louis Tomlinson himself came online and said that X is a toxic place these days. Newspaper journalists took this to mean that he was calling out fans who were exposing his current stunt girlfriend for her reckless, dangerous and disgusting behaviour in the past, but was he? One article written called Louis fans trolls for exposing Zara, and while I do not condone anyone calling her names, commenting on her instagram or other social media profiles and sending her hate- because that is disgusting behaviour, calling out her bad or poor behaviour in the past is not the same. 

Fans of Louis, especially his Larries, are exceptionally protective and yet the first comment on his post, that got over one thousand likes and eleven thousand interactions was one saying if Louis wants the fans support to kill larries, they’ll back him. There was a sign taken to a concert stating and I quote- ‘Larries Mass Extinction’; there are multiple posts telling Larries that Louis hates them; asking Larries if they are ready to die; that Louis should tell all Larries to die; that larries will pay and that Louis should have the right to kill Larries. 

These accounts can’t seem to understand that they are the toxic ones of his fandom and while there certainly are toxic Larries, we don’t seek out fights with solos or antis, we don’t tell people they should die, be killed or that their favourite singer hates them. In fact many times we tell them that Louis loves all of his fans, regardless of their beliefs about who he is behind his public persona. Just because we believe that he’s queer doesn’t mean we’re wrong, delusional, or fucked in the head. There is nothing and I do mean nothing wrong with being queer and if you think there’s something wrong with someone identifying as queer, or thinking someone is queer then you need to check your homophobia darling because you have a problem. 

Many of Louis solo fans are lovely, but they are drowned out by the vile, disgusting keyboard warriors in the fandom and these young men and women need to realise that their online footprint follows them forever. Would you like to go for a job and have your boss find out that you’ve told people to kill themselves or that they deserve to die because they think differently from you? How do you think that would look to a prospective employer? 

Differences in beliefs is normal but online toxicity, threatening and harassing people is not okay. You don’t have to agree with me, you don’t have to like me, but what you should do is respect that I have the right to my own opinion, even if it differs from yours and even if you adamantly disagree with my conclusions. This goes for everyone. Zara McDermott has faced trolls before and actually exposed them (which I vehemently oppose as it’s for the police to investigate these matters) but she doesn’t deserve online trolls going after her any more than I do, or my friends do. 

If you think that Louis, who has lost a mother, a sister and his best friend would want to kill people because they think he’s queer then you really don’t know him at all. Liam’s death, while still so fresh, came on the back of a never ending wave of hate which took the sparkle from his eyes and dulled his smile. No one should ever, ever be harassed like he was and as fans you should respect Louis enough to know that chasing fans from his fandom is both ridiculous and counterintuitive because the more fans he has the bigger the venues he plays, the bigger his tours are and the more successful he is and ALL fans play their part in that. Maybe the next time you wanna screenshot someone’s tweet and put them out to blast to your followers, or you quote someone’s tweet and tell them to kill themsleves or make fans feel unsafe at shows, you’ll remember that he needs us, ALL of us, and that he loves all of us equally. 

You don’t get to decide what others believe; it’s way past time for the toxicity, the fandom wars and the infighting to stop. Louis will thrive as long as we work together and help promote him, but who would want to come into a fandom that’s always at each others’ throats and who literally tell one half of said fandom that they are worthless and unwanted. 

Love is only for the brave after all and Louis is the bravest and the strongest so in future instead of hate, maybe you can share love if you see something you disagree with. Maybe in future you can block and laugh with friends in your group chats instead of doxxing, harassing and threatening people when you could be the person who is a tipping point for someone you don’t know. You could be the cause of someone ending their life. Do you really want that on your conscience- that your hate and your bullying caused someone who was a fan of an artist you love to end their life? Is that something you’d be proud of? 

People have lives, feelings and are real life humans behind their screens so in a world where you can be anything, take a leaf out of Harry’s book and treat people with kindness, even if you disagree with them, even if you dislike them, they deserve love, compassion and fair treatment. 

The world outside is toxic enough without people coming online and being toxic, vile and dehumanising to others. Kindness and compassion go a long way and everyone is fighting battles you know nothing about, so just stop and think- is this necessary? And if not then stop, block and move on. 

Thanks for reading

Behind The Curtains