Tea Accounts Are Fueling Influencer Feuds
In 2016, James Charles was a high-school student in upstate New York. He was an aspiring makeup artist who’d do his friend’s faces for practice and small amounts of money, and brought a ring light to his senior photo shoot so his pictures looked perfect.
Two years later, he had racked up more than 16 million subscribers on YouTube, launched his own makeup line, and become an icon in the online beauty community. He was named the first male spokesperson for CoverGirl and spent his time hobnobbing with celebrities like Kylie Jenner. He even walked the pink carpet at the Met gala this year.
[Read: Why Met Gala attendees always screw up the theme]
But last Friday, Charles was hit by a host of allegations, some petty and some more serious. And in the midst of it all, a rising class of social-media accounts was creating an ecosystem of drama, boosting their own popularity in the
