I watched Bloke's documentary and was very underwhelmed. This is a lengthy post and I do apologise, but the video was almost an hour long and I want to give a thorough overview for those who don't want to watch it.
The parts that were good were:
- It outlined hate speech, trolling and the law, as well as how suspect it is that powerful people like Sali want to use sweeping measures that violate free speech
- It described Tattle users as former fans who simply question Sali's honesty USP
- It acknowledged that most people are finding this thread thanks to Sali's own discussions
- It gave some insight into Sali's own shady and bullying behaviour
- It touched on the fact that this thread does not appear to display "hate speech", and that discussions around Sali's age and botox are inevitable given that she is a beauty influencer
- It discussed the "us versus them" and "good versus evil" discourse people like Sali create by using words like "trolls" and "sewer rats"
However, the documentary had its limitations.
- It seemed to have a goal of undermining policies and laws that tackle online hate speech, as well as the people that speak out against online harassment. Aside from a vague repetition of "collective responsibility to protect", there wasn't much discussion about this very real problem that Sali purports to be suffering from. I don't think anyone on this forum denies that women receive disproportionate amounts of hate online (for example, rape threats), and that this is something that needs to be tackled. I belong to numerous women's pages that are hijacked by men who gaslight and threaten, and it makes me feel very unsafe. As far as I can tell, our issue with Sali is that she takes these very real problems and conflates them with women discussing whether or not she is sponsored by Charlotte Tilbury
- It failed to explicitly mention that Sali's documentary made it seem as though the abuse Sali received was the same as the violence experienced by other women such as Jess Phillips. In fact, Bloke's documentary failed to describe what sorts of abuse Jess Phillips has actually received relative to Sali (I am not fan of Jess Phillips, but I also know how much misogynistic and racist violence women in politics face). This is why Sali is so dangerous - her "documentary" will be used to undermine testimonies from those who really have experienced traumatising online abuse
- I agree that we need to talk about how draconian the proposed legislation is, but it's a shame it didn't touch on how these measures will disproportionately affect vulnerable people. What happens to individuals who have to be anonymous for their own safety? E.g. human rights defenders who use the internet to expose human rights abuses; Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are actually huge evidence databases of atrocities
- It didn't really touch on the culture of these forums or what they mean to people beyond holding influencers accountable. Much of Sali's thread is women sharing beauty tips and there is often a sense of female comradery and support
- It didn't put online forums in historical context of celebrity gossip
- Although Bloke did contact the psychologist for further clarification about which comments qualify as hate speech, he could have done his own due diligence by looking at other threads. The psychologist never said that it was
Sali's thread specifically (my suspicion is that she deliberately phrased it as such). She is actually right in that there are some threads which probably do qualify as hate speech, such as the JK Rowling thread which is openly transphobic
- Similarly, although the psychologist appeared to give a sweeping definition of hate speech, and I agree it was very worrisome and vague, some research into the actual legal definition would have been beneficial. Contacting another lawyer for their opinion would have been amazing (though maybe that's a bit OTT for a YouTube video!)
- He did not do a side-by-side comparison of the things said on here versus Sali's descriptions of what is said. It's not just that people were commenting on things Sali herself made public (e.g. her children and someone's funeral), it's that the comments made were arguably not even particularly awful or slanderous
- It should have discussed the responsibility of forums and what "collective responsibility to protect the most vulnerable" actually means. On most threads, Tattle is pretty good at kicking out people who are dangerous to influencers, and they take down posts that qualify as hate speech. Having said that, there are other threads of here that don't seem to have the same management
- There was a picture of a sausage at 11.52 that was a bit weird
- There were some metaphors that I didn't find helpful, especially given the video was so long
Overall, the documentary did not go deep enough and lacked a real understanding of what these forums are about. Its agenda from what I could tell, was to be critical of people like Sali Hughes who wish to use their power to bring sweeping laws into being. Whilst I agree with by and large, I think our motivations for this criticism are likely different.
If you read this far, thank you for taking the time and I hope it was useful
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