Influencers need to step up and start actually using their platform for good

There has been a lot of talk in the last week surrounding influencer culture. It all started when “racist, fatphobic and homophobic” tweets made by YouTuber Elle Darby resurfaced. This was shortly followed by a huge backlash against ex-Love Islander Molly-Mae Hague’s comments, where she said that we all have “the same 24 hours in the day”. Many people thought the comments were “tone-deaf” and dismissed the realities of inequality and privilege. Whether you like it or not, influencers do exist in our society and they have a lot of power, but it’s about time they took some responsibility and actually started using their platform for good.

Having millions of followers comes at a price

The fact that Molly-Mae was a trending topic on Twitter for two days straight shows just how much people care about what influencers have to say, even if the surrounding talk is negative. Influencers have just as large a following as other celebrities, yet they often fail to fight for change or support social justice causes in the same way as other celebrities have.

The comments Molly-Mae made on Steven Bartlett’s podcast were tone-deaf and ignorant, and she said them without putting any real thought into her words. The issue is, when you have six million followers on Instagram, you shouldn’t be making careless and thoughtless remarks. It might not be what she signed up for, but there’s a real responsibility that must come with being that influential.

Influencers could change the world if they wanted to

Aside from the “24 hours in the day” comment, one of the most unnerving things about Molly-Mae’s podcast was the complete silence on the claims that PrettyLittleThing’s factory workers receive low pay. There was also absolutely no discussion on how completely damaging fast fashion is for the environment.

Of course, we would never expect Molly-Mae to bring up these issues herself, but Steven Bartlett’s failure to do so when interviewing her was truly telling. As Creative Director of PLT, with a combined Instagram and YouTube following of 8m, Molly-Mae has the ability to actually make a difference and ignite change. If she wanted to, she could use her position to advocate sustainability and fair wages, and people would actually listen to her. Yet so far, she hasn’t.

In contrast, footballer Marcus Rashford formed the Child Food Poverty Task Force and successfully pushed for the extension of free school meals during school holidays in 2021.

Meanwhile, many of the most-followed influencers such as Molly-Mae and Elle Darby spend most of their time pushing images of a “perfect” life for followers to buy into, rather than addressing and combatting the harsh realities of the world.

Molly-Mae’s comments are incomparable to Elle Darby’s tweets

There’s no denying that Molly-Mae’s ignorance and insensitivity is unacceptable, but her comments were nowhere near as nasty and disgusting as Elle Darby’s tweets. In one tweet from 2011, Elle Darby wrote: “This bus is sweaty and stinks of Indians.” Another tweet from the same year says: “I really miss my laptop, Wish that effin charger from HK would hurry up. Come on ch*nks, you’re upsetting me”.

As someone who has been called a ch*nk to my face before, seeing someone so adored by the public use the word in such a casual and deliberate way was shocking and devastating. How could anyone think, let alone tweet, all the things that Elle Darby had.

In her apology video, Elle Darby asks for forgiveness and says she hopes her fans can see she’s no longer a racist, homophobic, ableist teenager anymore, due to “the growth and the work that has happened over the last decade and that will continue to happen for the rest of my life”.

My problem with her apology video is that she focuses entirely on herself, saying things like “there is not one person on this planet that hates me more than I do right now”, and directing her apology mainly at her followers and subscribers that she’s let down, rather than the actual groups she attacked in her tweets.

Influencers need to lead the way for change

What we really need to see from Elle is not just a three-minute video and an Instagram story, but some actual action to prove she’s educating herself and undoing the racism and prejudice that she claims is no longer part of her.

No one can change their past, but when it comes to things like racism and homophobia, they can own up to it and openly state that they need to re-educate themselves and support the people that they have hurt. The world will never get better unless people start taking accountability and actively work to undo their discriminatory thoughts and behaviours.

Influencers like Elle Darby should be using their platforms to showcase this and lead the way, as then hopefully their followers who also share similar hateful views will follow suit. Until her actions actually reflect her words, Elle’s apologies are empty and meaningless. In a similar vein, Molly-Mae needs to actually speak out for once, and mobilise her millions of followers into fighting for something impactful and meaningful, rather than just pretending that the problems don’t exist.

Surprisingly, Elle does get one thing right in her apology video, saying: “Sorry doesn’t cut it”.

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• We need to stop using ‘be kind’ to let influencers get away with whatever they want

• Molly-Mae’s latest comments prove just how tone deaf influencers still are

• Molly-Mae has released a statement apologising for her ‘tone deaf’ podcast comments

Featured image via Instagram @elledarby_ @mollymae