Overview
#CuttingForBieber (Also known as #Cut4Bieber) is an online hoax and hashtag campaign launched by members of 4chan in trying to spread a rumor that fans of Justin Bieber are cutting themselves in response to the leaked photographs of the singer allegedly smoking marijuana. The hoax involved creating numerous fake Twitter accounts and spreading pictures of supposedly self-inflicted scars with the hashtag, similar to misinformation techniques used in the #BaldForBieber campaign.
Background
The entertainment news blog TMZ[1] published several photographs of Justin Bieber allegedly smoking marijuana at a party in a Newport Beach hotel room (shown below) on January 4th, 2013. Within four days, the post received over 15,000 Facebook shares and 12,000 tweets.
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Image may be NSFW.
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On January 7th, 2013, a thread was posted to the /b/ (random) board on 4chan,[2] which urged other users to create Twitter accounts and post images of scarred arms to spread a rumor that Bieber’s fans have begun harming themselves in response to the allegations of Bieber smoking marijuana (shown below).
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Notable Developments
Online Reaction
OOn January 7th, 2012, several fake Twitter accounts were created for the hashtag campaign, including the @brittanyscrapma feed which tweeted several photographs of arms that had been supposedly cut with a razor accompanied by the hashtag “#CuttingForBieber.”
#cuttingforbieber stop the drugs and we’ll stop cutting.
— brittany scrapman (@brittanyscrapma) January 7, 2013
The same day, a Facebook[5] page titled “Cutting For Bieber” was created, featuring image macros related to the campaign. Within 24 hours, the page received over 70 likes. Also on January 7th, YouTuber Wildhoglogging uploaded a video titled “Leader of Anonymous talks about cutting for Bieber,” in which a man hidden under a sweatshirt calling himself “Commander X” claimed to be the “leader of the 9gag Anonymous movement” and took responsibility for the #CuttingForBieber hoax (shown below)
News Media Coverage
Shortly after #CuttingForBieber began trending nationwide on January 7th, the Internet news sites BuzzFeed[6]and Twitchy[7] initially reported on the hashtag without any mentions of 4chan’s involvement, but both articles were later updated with details of the actual scheme. The same day, the entertainment news blog Complex[8] described #CuttingForBieber as “the most disturbing hashtag of all time,” but subsequently updated the post after discovering the campaign’s true origins. Throughout the day, similar articles revealing the campaign as a hoax were published by Gawker[10] and the men’s interest blog Brobible.[9] On the following day, The Huffington Post[11] published an article noting that the hashtag #SelfHarmIsNotAJoke began appearing on Twitter in response to the hoax.
Twitter Feed
Search Interest
External References
[1]tmz.com – Let’s Be Blunt …WHATCHASMOKIN?
[2]chanarchive.org – Lets start a cut yourself for bieber campaign
[3]reddit.com – 4chans Anonymous leader X has officially started a moment against 9gag around the issue of #cuttingforbeiber
[4]loadinglounge.com – 9GAG to blame for #cut4bieber
[5]Facebook – CuttingForBieber
[6]BuzzFeed – Teenagers Cutting Themselves To Get Justin Bieber To Stop Smoking Weed Is The Worst Twitter Hashtag Of The Year
[7]Twitchy – Girl purportedly cuts herself, threatens suicide over Justin Bieber smoking pot; Update: It’s a hoax
[8]Complex – #CuttingForBieber Most Disturbing Hashtag of All Time?
[9]Brobible – Are Young Girls Really Cutting Themselves Because Justin Bieber Got Caught Smoking Weed?
[10]Gawker – Trolls Launch Twitter Campaign Aimed at Getting Justin Bieber Fans to Cut Themselves
[11]The Huffington Post – Cutting For Bieber Twitter Hoax Allegedly Started By 4chan