Lively Vs Baldoni: How social media is preventing social justice
- GINA
- Sep 10
- 3 min read
Almost three years ago, I wrote an article on the role that social media played in the defamation case Johnny Depp brought against his ex-wife, Amber Heard. At the time, I was shocked by the tirade of abuse Amber Heard received. By the time history repeated itself, in the form of Blake Lively, I was less appalled, more saddened, by the abuse hurled at her via social media.
Perhaps one of the key differences between Heard and Lively was that Lively’s viral condemnation happened before her allegations of sexual harassment became public knowledge. Lively claims that, during the press tour of It Ends with Us, Baldoni’s PR team set in motion a smear campaign that would limit the damage to Baldoni’s reputation when the news of his alleged sexual harassment became public. The allegations that Lively has made against Baldoni will go to trial in March 2026; a judgement has yet to be made about how orchestrated the slander against Lively was. I will not, as of yet, go into too many details about the trail itself. I will leave that for a later date, when a verdict has been reached. However, speaking anecdotally, it was difficult to be on social media during the It Ends with Us press tour and avoid the vilification of Blake Lively. The question, for now, that we need to be asking is this: why is it so easy for posts disparaging women to gain traction online?
A study conducted by UCL, the University of Kent, and the ASCL, found “a fourfold increase in the level of misogynistic content in the “For You” page of TikTok accounts over just five days on the platform, in an algorithmic modelling study”. The researchers created archetypes of teenage boys who were vulnerable to becoming radicalised by online content. “The researchers set up accounts on TikTok for each archetype.. and [they] used these accounts to watch videos that TikTok suggested in its “For You” page, over a period of seven days”. Unsurprisingly, the researchers found that, after only five days, the TikTok algorithm was presenting four times as many videos with misogynistic content. This research likely applies to many other social media sites. In short, many social media algorithms are pushing misogynistic content.
It is no wonder, therefore, that I, like many social media users, was sucked into judging Blake Lively’s character. Before I knew about Lively’s allegations against Baldoni, I had seen much of the negative attention swarming her online presence. In the face of such (seemingly) universal criticism of an individual, it is hard to keep a level head; no feminist is perfect. The Guardian writer, Laura Snapes, perhaps said it best in her article titled: “I’m ashamed of what I said about Blake Lively. Her allegations should shock us all”.
The UCL study has proven what many of us already know. Social media has a lot to answer for when it comes to the perpetuation of misogynistic content online. That being said, it is important to remember that this content is promoted by algorithms because it gets more attention. In short, do not despair. The power to change the algorithms lies, ultimately, with us. Do not give in to the antics of the internet. Look for the women who are being tied to the stake online and ask yourself: how do I feel about the way this person is being presented? Is my judgement being clouded by a misogynistic algorithm? Let us try and recognise women like Blake Lively for who they are: women who claim to have been subjected to sexual harassment. Many of us know how difficult it is to come forward with these kinds of allegations. I, for one, am hoping to become better at recognising when I am being manipulated by social media. Together, we can stop these smear campaigns from spreading.
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