‘Stranger’ exposed by new Alkmaar juice channel: “This is perverse and harmful”

First let me explain: gossip is of course of all times. And that there is gossip about (semi) famous Dutch people in the public domain – in magazines and on television – is not new either. Juice channels (juice is derived from juicyjuicy) on Instagram exist a little shorter.

Here people can send in tips or rumors about, for example, a cheating singer or coke-sniffing actress. This is then published (sometimes without proof) by the juice channel. And now there seems to be a new variant: public juicing about people from your own city.

†Which girl condoned her boyfriend’s cheating for a trip to Aruba? Tonight reveal† It is one of the juicy posts of Juice Channel Alkmaar, which was suddenly founded a few days ago and now has more than three hundred followers.

NH Nieuws immediately asks who is behind this page: “I might tell it in exchange for juice† But for now, I will remain anonymous for a while,” is the response.

‘Public slaughter’

Publicist Hans Schnitzler, who recently a book about the dominance of technology in society and its harmfulness to our lives, Juice Channel calls Alkmaar ‘perverse’.

“It reminds me of kettle music in the Middle Ages. Then the whole village would make noise with pots and pans at the house of someone who had done something that, according to the public opinion, was disgraceful.”

Also social mediaspecialist Sonja Loth speaks plainly. “This is Gossip Girl in real life† Public slaughter. The sewer drain of social.” She didn’t know a juice channel in this urban form yet, but it does remind her of the Whatsapp groups at schools and Telegram groups.

“There is also gossip and shamed† Only this is even more extreme, anonymous and as far as I’m concerned it shouldn’t be allowed.” But why is someone exhibit or out (make a disclosure) on Instagram so bad?

First of all, what’s on the internet never goes away, says Loth: “People wrongly think that what is sent in a DM or posted to a private account is actually private. It’s not, that’s false security. This gossip go around forever.”

In addition, Instagram has an algorithm of ‘the more extreme, the more interesting’. “So as an account you also benefit from spreading gossip in the most intense way. Then it also reaches people who don’t even search for it and that gives you more readers and more likes.”

And that’s how tech companies make money, according to Schnitzler. “The attention industry: the more we swipe and like, the more data we generate. And those companies want to get hold of our data, they make profiles of it and they can sell it for advertising purposes. Which sows hate and smear, such as gossip and backbiting , is going to be singing around a lot.”

In addition, according to Schnitzler, you can ask yourself whether right and wrong are the same for everyone (the juice’she kisses two men in one night’ suggests that this pissed off is). “You really don’t know what’s going on in a relationship like that.” Moreover, according to Schnitzler, it is also a matter of hear say and there has been no thorough investigation at all, no rebuttal.”

Yet this gossip – and especially the people who follow this account – fits in 2022. It is a time of democratization, we want to have something to say ourselves, according to Schnitzler. “Gossip journalism privatizes. We take out the experts and intermediaries and become one ourselves.”

‘Disapproval of someone together’

According to Schnitzler, gloating to others is actually a diversion to avoid thinking about your own life. “People have the need to belong somewhere. Somewhere where common values ​​are shared and where they are morally indignant together.”

Loth adds: “And then as a group disapprove of that person. That other person is wrong, we know better. You also see that in reality programs: where people go bad, other people go well.

That there is now an Alkmaar and so local juice channel started and growing in popularity, according to Schnitzler, it could partly stem from people’s need to fall back on something they know in this ‘big bad world’.

But: we do make people who have not asked for it at all entertainment, said Lot. And therein lurks dangers, first of all for the ‘victims’ about whom gossips are made.

Loth: This is like bullying. Some people won’t care that much, but others will. It is precisely the fact that it concerns people who are close by, which entails risks. “That person potentially lives around the corner and you really have people who take action on that visiting go,” says Schnitzler.

Dangers for Alkmaarders

He also sees dangers for the privacy of Alkmaarders. “You are allowed to have multiple identities as a person. And the fact that you sometimes wear a perverted mask – according to others – says nothing about you as a whole person. But that context and nuance is completely missing on the internet.”

And so spontaneity can disappear from social life. “People are becoming more and more reserved with what they are doing, watching them closely. We change our behaviorinfluenced by technology. This way you can already see if you are not being filmed when you do something. It’s micro-level self-censorship.”

What has to happen? Loth: “Instagram doesn’t have enough capacity to handle all notifications about fake news or investigate online bullying and do something about it. I would therefore like you if you juice you get a label for that too. Some kind of warning. Because I fear that this is going to get much bigger.”

Back to the post on Juice Channel Alkmaar: ‘Which girl condoned her boyfriend’s cheating for a trip to Aruba? Tonight reveal† That evening indeed a post appears with the name of the company of the so-called ‘cheating person’ and there are again 100 followers.

Why was this channel even created? “We hear so much gossip and apparently there is enough enthusiasm for it. And everything we post, we know for sure that it is true.” Those affected by the gossip have been asked to comment. They are very affected, but do not respond to questions from NH Nieuws. They don’t want to ‘make it bigger than it is’.