Disabled child's desperate plea to stop online trolls brought out the best in social media
Social media is his only real connection to the outside world, and TikTok users refused to let him fight the trolls alone.
Social media rallies around disabled child after trolls attack his account.
There are so many good things people love about social media. It can keep you connected to family members that you no longer live near. You can find community in hobbies and special interests that other people share with you. It can even be used as a source of income if you're savvy enough to figure that out.
But with as much good as there is on social media, it can also be the source of emotional and mental distress. Between online bullying and internet trolls who just set out to harass unsuspecting people, social media can feel like a double-edged sword. In one instance, it's making you feel less alone in the world, then in another, it's making you feel unimportant. It can be difficult to navigate, especially as a child.
Kevin Gabor, a little boy with Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI), better known as brittle bone disease, found himself the target of internet trolls on TikTok.
Kevin has been using TikTok to build an online community because it's too dangerous for him to play outside. But for some reason, he was the target of mass reporting in an effort to get his account banned. Mass reporting is when a group of people report your videos or profile page repeatedly in order to get a creator permanently banned, forcing them to start their platform all over again from zero followers. Instead of giving up after the trolls tried to take his account down, Kevin decided to try to appeal to them, and in return, he found a whole community.
"You know I can't play, I can't run. I can't hang out with friends outside. I can't do a bunch of stuff," Kevin pleads. "Because I could break something and I have an online community so that I can share and have friends with and you're trying to take that away from me."
His tearful video didn't go unnoticed. It was viewed over 10.5 million times and the TikTok community rallied behind the boy and his family, sending followers and even Legos his way. Creators from all over made videos showing their support for Kevin, including Rosie O'Donnell. His account quickly grew to a million followers
Mandy, a creator who answered Kevin's call, compiled a video of multiple creators wishing him well and encouraging others to follow him and do the same. Heartwarming doesn't seem like a strong enough description. You might need to grab a tissue for the video below.
