“As Charli’s follower count grew, her popularity acquired a reflexive quality; essentially, she became a meme for other TikTokers to react to. There was a flurry of I don’t get why Charli is so popular posts, followed by backlash-to-the-backlash … ‘It became a runaway feedback loop… The more controversy there was about why she was popular, the more popular she became.'” The Atlantic on the rocketship rise of Charli D’Amelio: 98 Million TikTok Followers Can’t Be Wrong. (If my daughter and her friends are any indication, yes, for sure, they can.)

+ Of course you olds are still talking about Charli at 98 million when she’s already up over a hundred million.