in defense of snark subreddits

Rectifying the internet's power imbalance or cyber bulling?

One night as I was doom-scrolling on Reddit, I came across a subreddit, r/dinochips. As a non-eater of dino chips, I had no idea why my preciously curated Reddit algorithm thought I would be interested. Upon further inspection, it turns out this was a snark subreddit for a dino-chips-enthusiast influencer — an influencer I have followed for a very long time, something I wouldn’t have done if I had discovered r/dinochips earlier.

This dino chips fiasco was not my last escapade with snark subreddits. They have ruined the parasocial relationships I have with multiple influencers and I am better for it. I have never actually participated in any snark subreddit but have visited them now and again to satiate my thirst for good old gossip.

As the name suggests, snark subreddits focus on critiquing celebrities, usually influencers. If you dig enough you can find snark subreddits of all kinds — location-specific (like r/NYCinfluencersnark), genre-specific (like r/parentsnark that snarks on mommy and daddy bloggers), and if you are influential (derogatory; also a code word for pissing people off) enough, you can even get an entire subreddit dedicated to you.

Snark subreddits are the meeting point of anonymous netizens who rant about how out-of-touch and entitled some influencers are. These rants can range anywhere from calling out their lies and undisclosed ads to body-shaming and cyberbullying. If you haven't had the pleasure (or displeasure) of using Reddit, here is a little context on how the platform works.

On Reddit, you can find subreddits (communities) with thousands of members and threads (posts) with hundreds of comments on literally every niche subculture under the sun. But what makes the platform unique is its content distribution system. Unlike other major social media sites, Reddit is decentralised and democratised — users upvote or downvote threads and comments under them which ultimately decide if they get shown to more people. Reddit also heavily relies on user moderators of subreddits to do the heavy lifting of drafting and enforcing the community guidelines of their respective subreddits. So ultimately, the users decide what kind of content they share and consume, not an algorithm made to maximise profits.

In the past few months, snark subreddits have been in the news for all the wrong reasons — Reddit banned multiple subreddits, including the ones dedicated to influencers Lily Chapman and Trisha Paytas for doxxing the subjects of their discussions. These developments have ignited conversations about cyberbullying, influencer culture, parasocial relationships, and more importantly, the power imbalance of the internet.

Before Reddit took down the subreddits snarking on Lily Chapman, she posted a series of TikToks calling out the harassment she was facing on Reddit. “Snarking communities are unhealthy, they’re obsessive, they allow lies to be posted, they don’t moderate the lies, they indoctrinate new people to believe these lies and go way too far,” Chapman says in her TikTok post. “And most people don’t even know that this is happening.”

Chapman also said that taking them down wasn’t easy, Reddit didn’t care, and she sent a cease and desist notice to the subreddits’ moderators after hiring a private investigator to find their identity. “These people should all be registered as NET OFFENDERS and should have their WiFi shut off permanently. The list should be sent to cell phone providers and the providers should cut them off. They should not be able to get on the internet. Like, at all lol. And all of their WiFi should be rerouted to Lily so that her WiFi is even faster,” a comment under her video responding to her snarkers reads.

How true are Lily Chapman's claims? Are snark subreddits indoctrinating people to actively hate poor celebrities? Should the snarkers’ WiFi be cut off and rerouted to the flag-bearers of the creator economy? This issue of girl online dissects the relationship between influencers and their snarkers and how it all leads to the big question — the power imbalance of the internet.

lilybchapman

A post shared by @lilybchapman

Modern-day snark subreddits are modelled off their early internet predecessors, the snark forums of the early 2000s such as Lipstick Alley, Oh No They Didn’t, Get Off My Internets, Guru Gossip etc. While these forums were vicious with little to no boundaries and rules, snark subreddits have better guidelines in place. For instance, r/blogsnark has rules that specify that the snarkers can’t reveal information posted on a private or deleted account, not to mock how the subject of discussion is processing their grief or their health conditions, and about posting gossip without proof.

Other subreddits dedicated to a specific influencer have guidelines that mandate that the users don’t make direct contact with the influencer or body shame them. The moderators also ban users who make homophobic, racist, or sexist comments. They also ensure the influencers’ boundaries are respected. For example; if a creator doesn’t share pictures of their kids or family online, the snarkers also don't.

“We aren’t faceless jealous netizens tearing down a public figure for no reason. Granted, a minority of communities do fit that bill but are promptly taken down by Reddit when complaint tickets are raised,” the moderator of a snark subreddit who requested to stay anonymous clarifies with me.

A major positive impact of snark subreddits is that they challenge the internet's existing power dynamics. Influencers earn their bread by selling us their lives, which are at worst fabricated and at best curated. The existing framework of social media platforms helps them create and maintain the image they desire for themselves, in other words, the image most profitable to them. There is nothing social about how we interact with creators on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube. It is a one-sided relationship — the influencer sells us their lives and we either buy it with blind faith or question them by screaming into the void.

The curation of influencer selves doesn’t end with how they present themselves online. By turning off comments, deleting the comments calling-them out, and restricting users who disagree with them, creators also curate the dialogue that happens within their communities. This is where snark subreddits come into the picture. They provide a platform for people who feel betrayed by a celebrity who previously made a living off their attention and time.

Snark subreddits call out celebrities and influencers for being out of touch, profiting off their children, and undisclosed ads, revealing their scams and dishonest practices and reviewing the products they recommend or sell. “Most snarkers start snarking when something feels off or disingenuous with an influencer they follow,” another anonymous snarker told Defector. “A lot of times it is criticizing the privilege of influencers, how they advertise the beauty standard to a vulnerable following, and their blatant consumerism.”

A snarker who fell for body editing and diet culture rhetorics on social media and ended up deleting all platforms told me that snark subreddits helped her realise the truth behind the content she used to expose herself to, “It was literally lifesaving to learn about the dark side of social media. I had no idea.”

For some, snarking is pure entertainment — “This is my version of reading the New York Times” while others aren’t happy with the creator economy and bring a sort of eat-the-rich attitude to the table — “Influencers do not deserve as much praise as they get and should be humbled once in a while.”

While snarkers initially come together because of their shared distaste for an influencer, they usually stay for the community. For instance, even though r/blogsnark is all about snarking on bloggers and influencers, they have a weekly thread to share “the joy, misery, and just daily stuff.” In this thread, they share their wins and failures, and rant about their not influential (non-derogatory) lives.

“I am a bit miffed at my sister for not warning me her kiddo was sick when we went over Wednesday to help my other niece set up a new computer,” a snarker shares. Another snarker promptly declares solidarity, “So annoying. This seems to happen to us every time we visit my family for Thanksgiving or Christmas. I keep asking them NOT to bring over sick kids when we’ve travelled 400 miles for the holiday, but no one listens! Last Thanksgiving, my brother was popping Dayquil at the table!!”

Snark subreddits have their own vernacular, inside jokes, and memes that might not make sense to outsiders. This exclusivity makes the community an escape, a little corner of the internet where you hang out and make mostly harmless jokes about your favourite out-of-touch-with-reality influencer. That being said, there are snark subreddits with little to no moderation that sometimes go out of control becoming a real problem for the subjects of their discussions. This is where Reddit should step in and strictly enforce its community guidelines.

At the end of the day, influencers and snarkers are two sides of the same coin. Snarkers are anti-fans, just like the hate-watchers. The fame of the influencer is directly proportional to the popularity of their snark subreddit and snarkers are often as obsessed with their subjects as much as their loyal followers. But they have different functions to perform. While followers fuel influencer culture and strengthen the creator economy, snarkers — with a little bit of personal discretion and better moderation from Reddit — can hold influencers accountable and to an extent, balance the internet’s power asymmetry.