The majority of us are self-isolating at home, but we are able to remain connected with each other through the power of social media, such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. We can also host meetings and business transactions online and, most importantly, we are able to find out how Kylie Jenner is facing the pandemic in the comfort of her $16 million Los Angeles mansion.

As we are possibly facing the largest financial crisis since 2008, through social media we can see how the pandemic widens economic disparities between the rich and the poor, and how privileged some people are in comparison to others; the privilege of celebrities and influencers.

How it all started: Arielle Charnas

Arielle Charnas’ self-documented journey on how she contracted COVID-19 has been the prime initiator on the move to question the relevance of influencers and celebrities in this day and age.

Arielle Charnas is a New York-based fashion blogger and influencer, with around 1.4 million followers on Instagram. She posts pictures of her daily outfits, her two daughters that she has with husband, Brandon Charnas. And like most influencers you can find on social media, she constantly shares her daily life with her followers.

March 16, 2020 marked the beginning of Charnas’ COVID-19 documentation when she announced to her followers that she had been feeling sick, and that she wanted to get tested on the possibility of contracting the disease. After stating that she wasn’t eligible for testing in the State of New York, she announced that her friend, Dr. Jake Deutsch, would test and swab her in her car for both the flu and coronavirus.

Two days later, the influencer released a statement to her followers claiming she tested positive for COVID-19, along her disapproval on the amount of testing available for the wider public in the United States.

Despite testing positive for the virus, on March 26, Charnas began posting about how her family moved to the Hamptons from NYC, which received tons of backlash from both her followers and the general public.

On April 6, in a tearful Instagram story and an official Instagram post, she made the following statements: 1) she wanted to maintain “a sense of routine”, hence why she continued to interact with her daughters who were unlikely to be infected; 2) her and her family only broke quarantine after they were qualified for the three criteria given by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); and 3) she deemed it was safer for her and her family to resume their lives while quarantining in the Hamptons.

Why is this problematic? 

This case highlights how privilege can go a long way in helping you survive a pandemic like the one we are facing today:

As numerous people and Charnas herself have stated, the availability of COVID-19 tests in the US is certainly not ideal. Although she refuted claims that she got tested thanks to her wealth, and that it was a doctor who offered to do it as she showed all of the possible symptoms, she forgot the privilege of having the connections that she has; something millions of untested Americans will not have in the course of their lifetime.

The ability of her and her family to “escape” Manhattan and leave to the Hamptons, because she deemed it was the safest option for them, is not only the epitome of privilege, but shows how inconsiderate she was to the safety of the general public. Despite her justifications, doctors claiming that it is alright to do so does not mean that it was necessary for her to do so.

Charnas was not the only influencer to post controversial content during this pandemic. Madonna in a now-deleted Instagram post said that the virus attacks both the rich and the poor – all while taking a bubble bath. Victoria’s Secret model, Doutzen Kroes, posted a video titled “Thank you, coronavirus,” while Vanessa Hudgens went live saying “Even if everybody gets it, like yeah, people are going to die, which is terrible… but inevitable?”

It seems that there is an apparent disconnect between celebrities/influencers and ordinary people. This made us wonder: are we really experiencing the same pandemic as they are?

We all know of the dire consequences that arise from wealth inequality (from increased health risks to decreased happiness), and the reason why we must be as critical to influencers just as we are to businessmen and politicians is due to the scope that they can reach to send out a particular message, whether good or bad.

Good vs Bad Influencers: Does the good overcome the bad?

It is not to say that there haven’t been influencers who utilised their privilege for the greater good.

There are a number of influencers who have helped raise huge amounts of funds for COVID-19 relief. Fashion blogger Chiara Ferragni and her husband Fedez raised millions of euros through their Instagram accounts to support the establishment of new intensive care units in Italy while raising awareness on the severity of the COVID-19 situation.

Indonesian lifestyle and beauty blogger Rachel Vennya helped raise approximately $30,000 in the span of 5 days to help purchase and distribute medical supplies to health centres and hospitals in need.

Additionally, even the seemingly small act of urging their followers to stay home and practice physical distancing is an act of importance that most influencers are taking right now. While posting stories and selfies with the caption #stayhome (which has over 12.8 million Instagram posts) might seem trivial to some, we forget that these influencers have spent months and years to build their fan base by creating content that people love and support.

The most followed individual on Instagram right now is not Barack Obama or Ban Ki Moon, but celebrity and influencer Selena Gomez. This is due to the fact that we do not grow up idolising real estate agents, stock brokers, or average shop owners. Instead, we idolise people who act in movies we love to watch, who sing songs we love to hear and who live lives we always want to live.

Influencers can, and definitely have, make positive contribution to social issues. Let us once again remember the #metoo movement that helped create an opportunity for millions of sexual assault victims worldwide to share their story and go through a path of healing. When celebrities and influencers such as Ashley Judd and Kate Beckinsale used the hashtag to share their experience of assault by the now-incarcerated Harvey Weinstein, the #metoo movement went viral and left a positive impact on the future of gender equality and women’s rights. If influencers are able to do this, they are certainly able to do the equivalent for this pandemic as well.

What does the data show?

Major publishers have exposed and criticised Arielle Charnas for her actions during this pandemic, but does it really signify the end of her, and other influencers’, careers?

Charnas actually gained an approximate of 20 thousand followers throughout her documentation period. The largest increase in follower numbers happened on the 16th of March 2020, the day she started documenting her symptoms. The figure remained stagnant and she saw only a small number of people unfollowing her after she posted her clarification and apology on April 2, 2020. Her follower numbers continued to rise back as of April 6.

Charnas saw a spike of engagement on March 16, which has relatively increased and peaked on March 2, the day of the public clarification. While her engagement rates were the highest ever, a quick look at her Instagram tells us that most people were directing it towards her latest post (the clarification), which garnered over 14,000 comments. That was 4 to 5 times more than the amount of comments she receives for her regular posts.

Similar patterns for both engagements and follower statistics are found for other celebrities/ influencers being scrutinised, such as Vanessa Hudgens and Gal Gadot. If anything, it seems that engagement rate of these influencers remain the same or are even rising. They did lose followers, but not enough to end their career.

It is too early to conclude whether this will impact the future of these influencers’ business deals, most notably how it will affect Charnas’ personal clothing brand, Something Navy. However, a simple analysis of her social media statistics showed that despite the negative coverage by the media, her influencer career remains stable, if not rising.

We are then faced with the dilemma about whether influencers ultimately contribute positively or negatively to the current social issues. The negative public response to insensitive posts of influencers has raised question about the importance and power we give them, while the positive outcome of raising awareness, donations and medical supplies distribution reminded us why we made them famous in the first place.

So, is the media correct for speculating the possible end of the influencer era? Right now, the data shows the contrary, and the extent to which the era of influencers will end remains a mystery.