On Monday, British YouTube star, Jack Dean, known as JaackMaate, gave his Twitter followers the chance to win some Amazon vouchers.
While most influencers will usually ask for likes or retweets as an entry for a competition like this, Dean asked people to block The Sun’s Twitter page and tweet with #IBlockedTheSun.
Following the recent death of presenter, Caroline Flack (read my blog post here), long-standing debates have resurfaced about the way the tabloid press treats people.
Dean’s hashtag quickly snowballed outside of his fan base, resulting in thousands of Twitter users collectively blocking The Sun.
One user said they were “so happy” that the hashtag was trending and claimed that the British media “need to be held accountable for their horrendous actions”. Along with many others, they shared a screenshot of their lists of blocked accounts.
As well as The Sun, lots of people blocked The Daily Mail and controversial tabloid journalists and columnists, such as Dan Wootton, Katie Hopkins and Piers Morgan.
John Smith, son of author, Harry Leslie Smith, said #IBlockedTheSun is “fantastic”, but encouraged people to “block everything that Murdoch owns including the Times”. He also described all newspapers, radio stations and television networks as “a unique poison all designed to kill democracy.”
Another Twitter user described tabloid methods as “bullying not journalism”, and shared an image showing a range of negative headlines about Megan Markle, who has been a common focus in recent discussion about the tabloid press.
However, some people took a more comical approach, suggesting that The Simpsons character, Mr Burns, “had the right idea” when he plotted to block the light from the sun out in a 1995 episode.
It’s clear that the British public have very strong opinions about the tabloid press, and the discussion surrounding their controversial methods is unlikely to fade away any time soon.
Please feel free to share your opinions in the comments below.
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