Ethical or Envisioned ?
- chumaniheard1
- Nov 29, 2025
- 3 min read
Updated: Dec 11, 2025
The first video I chose was a Snapchat story about India Love, with the thumbnail “India Love tired of being single.” The clip tries to frame her as someone who dated multiple celebrities and is now desperate to settle down and have children. It goes further by suggesting that her recent reappearance online is because she is no longer making the money she once did as a Tumblr-era celebrity. The narrator implies she is trying to make herself seem more desirable for attention from old fans. This message is misleading and unclear because if you look at what India is actually doing now, none of this is true. She is a streamer who is authentically herself on a platform that provides more stability and income than Tumblr ever could. She has matured and built a new lane for herself. The so-called journalist also has not interviewed her or offered any factual source to support his claims. Instead, he uses random pictures without dates, older TikToks, and clips from past interviews, creating the illusion that this content is recent. The ethical lines crossed include publishing misleading information, using incomplete context, relying on clickbait, and presenting assumptions as facts.
The second video features a creator acting like a journalist while discussing football player Stephon Diggs and claiming he is secretly dating Jeffree Star while being with Cardi B. The thumbnail says, “Stephon Diggs mad at getting caught with Jeffree Star,” clearly meant to grab attention. The video is misleading because it shows Jeffree Star with another Black man and suggests that person is Diggs, even though it is not. None of the clips match in timeline or context, and the images used do not support the narrator’s story. I didn’t even need the audio to know it was manipulated, because these types of shorts often use old or unrelated celebrity footage and try to create a scandal out of nothing. The video jumps between unrelated clips and photos, creating a false narrative. The ethical lines crossed include spreading false claims, misidentifying people, pushing fake news, and failing to respect the individuals involved by giving them no chance to speak for themselves.
Ethics In The Feed
In a digital world where social platforms dominate, the line between real journalism and viral content is getting harder to see. The videos I analyzed show how easily misinformation spreads when creators chase attention instead of accuracy. One video was a Snapchat story about India Love with the thumbnail “India Love tired of being single.” The narrator makes claims about her relationships, money, and motivations without any verified information. They use old photos, old TikToks, and out-of-context clips to create a dramatic narrative, even though none of it reflects her current life as a streamer who is confident and successful on her own. The video looks like news, but it’s really speculation disguised as reporting.
This connects to a point made in the article, where the journalist says: “The truth is that the roles of journalist and influencer or content creator are markedly different; and they require a markedly different mindset and skill set.” What I saw in these shorts proves this completely. Many creators imitate a journalistic tone, but they don’t follow any ethical standards. They aren’t verifying information, they aren’t interviewing the people involved, and they aren’t responsible for accuracy. Their goal is to entertain even if that means misleading viewers.
Another video I analyzed falsely suggested that Stephon Diggs was secretly involved with Jeffree Star while also seeing Cardi B. The creator used a dramatic thumbnail and stitched random clips together, including footage of a completely different man. It was misleading, emotionally manipulative, and built purely to generate clicks. This is exactly the kind of problem the article talks about, where influencers “accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative,” or even just make things up, because they feel pressure to keep their audience engaged.
The biggest ethical risk in digital storytelling today is the speed and reward system of social platforms. The faster a story feels, the more viral it becomes. But speed often destroys accuracy. Viral videos can ruin someone’s reputation, spread false claims, or confuse viewers who think they are getting real news.
Creators and journalists can still tell engaging stories, but they have to balance it with responsibility. A story can be dramatic and truthful. It can be emotionally interesting without being manipulative. It just requires more intention and honesty.
My personal commitment going forward is to avoid misleading thumbnails or captions and to make sure anything I post is based on real information, not assumptions. I want my content to be compelling, but not at the expense of someone else’s truth or dignity.
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