MY OPINION

I believe people should be banned if they have a negative influence over a platform. Based on my survey conducted, answering my own question I do agree that someone like Gabbie Hanna should be banned and 80% of people agree with me as well. Although the 20% who disagree did bring valid points like freedom of speech or people still deserve to be heard and respected, I still believe people should be banned. nevertheless the 20% of people did bring a valid argument and I saw a new perspective my opinion was not swayed, they did bring points I never thought about, I'm still not swayed and is with the 80%

MY INTERVIEW

The purpose of my interview was to be able to get other peoples opinion, and get more sources to be able to form your own opinion, it was also to show how someone who spends time on social media sees events of these sort unfold. Melanie Gaduno is a Female Junior at Curie High school. She was very concerned, not only for the people who had the short end of the stick with Gabbie, but also sympathized concern for her, and express worry for the influence this has on those using social media platforms. One of her biggest concerns and points on why we should ban creators like Gabbie was because of the influence. Due to the fact that we do have children that can easily consume and be influenced by the actions without holding these people accountable can harmfully impact the minds and action of them. Conducting my interview helped me realize how immediate we should take action, and how easily it is easy to create a toxic environment in platforms like twitter.

*THERE ARE VERY SENSITIVE SUBJECTS, SUCH AS RAPE, FOUL LANGUAGE, EATING DISORDERS, DEPRESSION*

Should influencers who are narcissistic like Gabbie Hanna who bullies, use their platform to attack other people, and do not take accountability for their actions be banned from platforms like youtube if they seem dangerous to themselves and others? Influencers who were once friends with Gabbie now want nothing to do with her. They think she’s not a great person and shouldn’t even have a platform. Out of 25 kids interviewed at Curie high school, 91% of them all agreed that she should be banned or removed from the platform. She has done multiple things to be able to say this and has clearly affected not only herself but her friends and creators. Although people argue that Gabbie has every right to feel the way she does, nevertheless we should keep in mind how those feelings can affect the people around her and herself because it can cause an unhealthy environment for everyone involved

You might be wondering, what has Gabbie done? I don’t know much about her? Well, Gabbie is a 31-year-old content creator who started her platform on December 25, 2001. She suffers from anxiety, depression eating disorders, and PTSD. In those years she has met many people and creators whom she has claimed have helped her lots, but she has also done very harmful things according to them.

On July 4, 2019, Gabbie was invited to shoot in a big production show called to escape the night, a reality TV show series where contestants have to complete a series of challenges to survive a night in a haunted mansion. While everyone on the show agreed they had so much fun filming the show, they also had a lot of issues with Gabbie Hanna. One of them being the way she acted on set. One of the producers, Daniel Preda says, “Season 4 I had issues with Gabbie…… she was miserable to work with, there were good moments,..... Then in season 4, she was a f*cking nightmare, I’m not going to expand more upon that cause I don’t really care anymore, it was just hard. There were a lot of diva antics, there was a lot of yelling a lot of screaming a lot of unprofessional behavior. It was miserable but it turned out entertaining on the show so I can’t really hold that against her.” (Gabbie Hanna Reupload) Ch. 4: Escape the Nightmare. Gabbie Hanna, 21:45-22:13). Yelling and screaming at people is disrespectful regarding what was going on. Daniel claimed that one of the moments she yelled was when they had to make her wait while they were shooting and the assistant that told her to wait was yelled at and scoffed at by Gabbie and yelled “You dumb f*cking c*unt”. Daniel claimed multiple people heard her, and felt like she was walking on eggshells after that. Overall made the situation uncomfortable by doing this. Gabbie later makes claims about how she was acting. “So I blew up at the director I blew up at probably daniel and j- not joey I was very careful not to blow up at joey but I did blow up and daniel because daniel was the producer…it just turned into this thing of like ‘Gabbie is a diva’” -(Gabbie Hanna Reupload) Ch. 4: Escape the Nightmare. Gabbie Hanna 33:28). She claims herself she loses control of certain situations. In these situations, people feel unsafe and disrespected, and on a platform like youtube, this isn’t something that would normally be allowed. Although her coworkers do compliment her, it still bothered them, and felt like they can’t do anything about her antics, like being a diva and rude to people for no reason but because she feels threatened is really unsafe and I think allowing her to step off the platform to reflect on herself would be beneficial.

Another occasion when people have said they felt like Gabbie was being a danger to her surroundings was with an old friend of hers called Jessie. For context, Jessie was taken advantage of one night while sleeping by her now ex Curtis Lepore. Curtis pleaded guilty, but Gabbie was later found supporting Curtis and having his back despite Jessie asking her to have nothing to do with him or to not talk about her trauma. Gabbie did not listen and it lead to a huge internet feud where Gabbie was seen to be blaming her now ex-friend Jessie and talking about her trauma when Jessie stated she wanted nothing to do with Gabbie for this reason. Lizzy Rosenberg, a writer who documented and explained the event states, “The two had been friends until Jessi filed a lawsuit against her boyfriend at the time, Curtis Lepore, for sexual assault. Gabbie continued to associate with Curtis and his friends afterward. When confronted about still seeing his friends, Gabbie reportedly told Jessi, "Curtis's friends didn't rape you" — which she apparently doesn't recall saying.” ( Lizzy Rosenberg Jessi Smiles Released More Receipts on Her Feud with Gabbie Hanna.3/31/22) Gabbie not helping her friend and claiming she doesn’t remember saying something hurtful towards her is something very manipulative to do. Not only is she discrediting Jessie's trauma but saying it didn’t even happen. Jessie also expressed how this made her feel, "I have repeatedly asked this woman to stop. To stop talking about my r*pe, to stop talking about my trauma, to please leave this out of her narrative…….Talk about anything you want. Stop talking about that. She blackmailed me. I want the truth out there. I want to be the one to deliver my truth. What she's doing on this platform is dangerous. She is a dangerous person to have a platform." - (Jessi smiles, Jessi Smiles Released More Receipts on Her Feud with Gabbie Hanna. 3/31/22). Claiming someone is dangerous is a very serious thing to claim, but in this situation, it is claimed with reasoning. What she is doing is very dangerous and upsetting for the people around her. Gabbie isn’t taking accountability for the way she is hurting these people. People did, unfortunately, agree with Gabbie, claiming that it really did never happen, or that she isn’t pretty enough to be r*ped, harassing Jessie and Gabbie doing nothing to help despite knowing how hurtful and how mentally affected Jessie was.

Jessie was able to overcome this hardship from Gabbie Hanna though, although she claimed it took a major toll on her mental health, we can see how people can be affected by the actions of others, online and with personal relationships. Clearly, Gabbie has let a lot of social media get to her head and affect those around her. How are her actions affecting her and the people around her though? Well to illustrate how her actions are affecting others, Lawrence Robinson and Melinda Smith, M.A. says, “For example, your social media use may be problematic if it causes you to neglect face-to-face relationships, distracts you from work or school, or leaves you feeling envious, angry, or depressed. Similarly, if you’re motivated to use social media just because you’re bored or lonely, or want to post something to make others jealous or upset, it may be time to reassess your social media habits.” (Lawrence Robinson and Melinda Smith, M.A. Social Media and Mental Health 3/31/22). Social media has seemed to make Gabbie neglect her relationships with others as a whole, distract her from her actual work, and focus on the work being done when she has to be the one working for that image. In the example with Jessie, she was neglected by Gabbie which affected her mentally. Bullying also is something Gabbie condoned. People bullied her, including Gabbie, which is not something that is okay to do. Bullying can lead to more mental health problems. A research study has found, “About 10 percent of teens report being bullied on social media, and many other users are subjected to offensive comments.” (Lawrence Robinson and Melinda Smith, M.A. Social Media and Mental Health 3/31/22). Those kids being bullied can later be anxious and become depressed about themselves, which is what happened with Jessie. On the other hand, those who were being the bullies don’t realize the harm they could do to others, which is why I think we need to have better safety precautions, and stricter policies when it comes to the internet, and why banning people who create a negative space should be banned. They should be removed for the safety of others.

Overall I believe that creators like Gabbie should be removed from platforms if they create a toxic environment. Some people don’t feel safe around her and cause harm to the people involved in the environment. In the future, I believe we should have more safety precautions when it comes to people being harmful to others.