The Atlantic attempted to explain the TikTok phenomenon of "Scar Girl," a North Carolina college student whose unusual scar has drawn significant—and as the article suggests, deeply unhealthy—speculation and scrutiny from other social media users.
Perhaps “Scar Girl” is best understood as a mirror. She reflects back at us not only the internet and the platforms we have built on it, but more fundamental questions about who we are and what we expect from others. “What distinguishes internet celebrities from traditional celebrities is this idea that they’re authentic, that they’re more honest,” Alice E. Marwick, a communications professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told me. When that trust seems broken, audiences may feel betrayed, and lash out in response.