One TikTok creator decided the best way to fight online bullying wasn’t with more hate, so Tyler Brickley built a half-million-follower army that swarms victims with supportive comments instead. When Staten Island’s Laura Tigeleiro was mocked for an eye affected by multiple sclerosis, his followers responded with 15,000 warm comments. The trolls had nowhere to go.
Yale professor Nicholas Christakis calls the effect a“cascade of kindness,”and research suggests it works because bullying feeds on attention. When the audience flips from cruelty to encouragement, the trolls lose their fuel. In some cases, they change their behavior entirely.
The whole thing started as a social experiment, but it’s turned into something bigger: proof that online culture can be shifted, one comment section at a time. Would you join a kindness army? Drop a comment and tell us what you think.
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Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.