How Effective Is #Blockout2024? Here's How Many Followers Celebrities Lost & Gained
#Blockout2024 is an online boycott movement that aims to pressure celebrities and influencers to raise awareness about Israel's genocide in Gaza.
By Sukhbir Cheema — 31 May 2024, 04:53 PM
On 8 May, a TikTok creator with more than 56,000 followers called for her followers to block celebrities, influencers, and wealthy socialites who aren't supporting the poor and marginalised
TikTok user @ladyfromtheoutside urged her followers to conduct a 'digital guillotine' or digitine for short.
"It's time for the people to conduct what I want to call a 'digital guillotine.' A digitine if you will," @ladyfromtheoutside said.
"It's time to block all of the celebrities, influencers, and wealthy socialites who are not using their resources to help those in dire need," she added.
The movement has since been dubbed #Blockout2024 as more and more celebrities, influencers, and wealthy individuals get unfollowed and blocked.
#Blockout2024 comes as global protests mount against Israel's genocide in Gaza with many feeling that influencers should lend their voice to pressure the Zionist regime to stop the atrocities being committed
Although @ladyfromtheoutside didn't specifically mention the Gaza genocide, her call to block celebrities, influencers, and wealthy socialites comes following the Met Gala that was held on 6 May.
The Met Gala this year was heavily criticised for being tone-deaf and insensitive towards the atrocities committed by Israel against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
Some critics even alluded the Met Gala to the Hunger Games series that was created by American author Suzanne Collins.
Popular celebrities began seeing their follower counts dwindle as #Blockout2024 began gaining momentum. The goal is to take away their views, making sponsored posts worth less
According to reports, celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift both boast 363 million and 283 million followers respectively.
Due to their influence, the price of one sponsored post on Instagram can cost up to USD1 million (RM4.71 million).
"We gave them their platforms. It's time to take it back, take our views away, our likes, our comments, our money, by blocking them on all social media and digital platforms," @ladyfromtheoutside said.
There's also a #Blockout2024 list that includes celebrities and athletes people know and love
TikTok user @Blockout2024 has been compiling a list of social media users to block.
The list includes celebrities like Taylor Swift, Zendaya, and Kim Kardashian, as well as athletes like Mohamed Salah, Lionel Messi, and Cristiano Ronaldo.
We were curious and decided to see for ourselves if the #Blackout2024 has been effective. We used Social Blade to track the social media profiles.Turns out, the #Blackout2024 movement has caused a dent, albeit a small one for some celebrities. Between 1 to 30 May, here's how many followers these popular celebrities lost:
- Taylor Swift: - 357,330 followers
- Billie Eilish: - 644,250 followers
- Zendaya: - 447,750 followers
- Beyoncé: - 859,980 followers
- Mohamed Salah: - 185,010 followers
- Oprah: - 78,750 followers
- Kim Kardashian: - 1,014,510 followers
- Caitlyn Jenner: - 73,642 followers
- Bad Bunny: - 63,000 followers
- Malala Yousafzai: - 15,840 followers
- Ariana Grande: - 749,070 followers
- Drake: - 2,460 followers
Unfortunately, data on Harry Styles, Timothee Chalamet, and Tiger Woods were not available.
Meanwhile, some celebrities on the #Blackout2024 list and billionaires saw an increase in followers
- Kendall Jenner: + 330 followers
- Lionel Messi: + 251,700 followers
- Cristiano Ronaldo: + 1,658,190 followers
- Mark Zuckerberg: + 186,360 followers
- Jeff Bezos: + 2,820 followers
- Bill Gates: + 16,980 followers
