Influencer culture has bred many confusing social phenomena, but none more so than that of the influencer snark subreddit. What is it? A strange upside down world where denisons of the internet gather to flent their spleen, joined in a kind of competitive hatred for influencers and some A-listers.
And, in what’s starting to look like the Year of Our Hater (cc Kendrick Lamar at the Super Bowl) snarkers are going mainstream.
Recently, The Cut published a piece in which journalist Brooke LaMinta spoke with contributors to some of Reddit’s most popular influencer snark subreddits like r/NYCInfluencerSnark and r/LAInfluencerSnark.
These haters shared insights into what drew them to snarking in the first place and defended their dedication to hating. As they shared their stories a sentiment found mirrored in the depths of snark threads emerged: the Reddit snarker as Robin Hood content creator holding the rich and powerful to account for everything from having too much lip filler, a fake Bottega Veneta bag or a racist personality.
Arguably, 2025 is the year of the hater. We’re living in diabolical times when the divide between the haves and the have-nots, from nepo babies to techno oligarchs, has become dramatic. In this environment it feels like publicly hating has become a revolutionary act. Snarkers have claimed Kendrick Lamar‘s Super Bowl performance in which he called out Drake as a win for snarkers. “Kendrick getting a Grammy for being a hater is the most motivating fact I’ve ever learned,” writes Sad_Beginning_5293. Other users are seeing snark as an act of self-care during terrifying times: “Being a hater is the only way I’m going to survive the next four years.”
Unlike Lamar, snarkers choose to share their resentment anonymously eschewing platforms like X, TikTok and Instagram. But while they are anonymous, within the platform they have highly engaged audiences and their own followings and fandoms. With news Reddit is set to start paywalling some of its content, a move that will slowly but surely change the nature of the platform we decided to spend some time on the internet’s anti-OnlyFans so you don’t have to.
How Reddit Started Competing With Google
Reddits move to paywall some of it’s content comes amidst it’s increasing competition with Google. Like Instagram and Facebook, Reddit is a free social network with 82.7 million daily active users, Unlike Instagram their content is anonymous, posted in subreddits. It’s also discoverable via Google. On subreddits users up- and downvote each other’s responses to niche questions, create and distribute fan art, and even publish fiction.
Thanks to its anonymity, the platform has always been the wild west of the internet. It’s where people with niche problems and interests turn to find niche answers and fellow weirdos. In 2022, Fast Company published an article asking, “Is Reddit A Better Search Engine Than Google?” (The answer was yes), and in 2024, The Wall Street Journal trialled Reddit over Google for a week.
Over the last few years, Google has made many changes to its algorithms and introduced AI. This means some of our most burning questions our now met with unsatisfying dot-point AI responses or search engine optimised listicles. Neither leaves you with the feeling the responder understands your query: “Is it weird that I have a crush on my boyfriend’s dad?” or “How do I avoid attending my bosses child’s birthday party?”
Those hungry for real answers have turned to entering their query or obsession followed by /reddit to get the real tea. Responders are real people with nothing to gain; people find a sense of solidarity and community having their darkest questions answered.
But snark reddit isn’t a haven for the heartbroken or socially inept. It’s a haven for haters.
What Are Snark Subreddits?
Haters all over the world are finding community on influencer snark subreddits where anonymous users drop their day-to-day facades to skewer people on the internet they’ve noticed and hate. Individuals in these threads offer up an irritation they have with a specific influencer, or, something niche they’ve noticed in the hope of finding people similarly bothered.
There are some guidelines for snark subreddits. Popular site Blogsnark urges users to “remember the human on the other side of the screen” encouraging users to keep things civil between each other. Another suggestion is “Do not mock appearances”.
These suggestions are roundly ignored in other subreddits though.
A typical successful pitch can be found on r/LAinfluencersnark: “Y’all have that one influencer who pisses you off no matter what they do?” They were taking issue with influencer Brooke Schofield who they described as “this bargain-bin, botched Bratz doll with the personality of expired mayonnaise.”
The thread has 306 comments, with other users tossing in “Briann chicken fry for me, lol” or Kendall Jenner. Others agree with the poster “70% fake boobs, 28% forehead, and 2% brain. Sadly, none of that is dedicated to not being racist.” The comment received 432 updates. The comments refer to a series of racist Tweets Schofield made defending police officer George Zimmerman who shot unarmed Black teenager Trayvon Martin in 2012. Schofield apologised for the Tweets in 2024, but SnarkReddit remembers forever.
Another very active snark subreddit, famous even amongst snarkers, is the r/travisAndtaylor subreddit. Here haters gather to critique almost everything the couple have ever done, together or separately. “We’re here to roast and criticise Taylor Swift’s PR stunts (looking at you, Travis), her questionable ethics, and the never-ending antics she wants fans to (literally) buy.” Fans of Swift are assured they’ll be banned from the account. “If you’ve come to defend Mother, you’ve come to the wrong place.”
Criticisms of the couple range from inventive (pointing out fines she received for trash outside her apartment) to less imaginative like obsessing over her exes along with the rest of the world and pointing out that her success, alongside her talent, is attributable to the machinations of a sophisticated marketing machine something even the most dyed in the wool Swiftie would find uncontroversial.
There are also very active threads about Travis Kelce and his career, which indicate that while snarkers are often assumed to be women and women are most often the target of snark, there’s a significant proportion of men on the platforms. One thread devoted to the Super Bowl reads less snark and more blow-by-blow of the game referring were reminsicences of previous football faux pas are mixed with expressions of mild real-time concern.
Gullible_Elephant_38 writes: “Mostly fun, but I can’t get behind laughing at the last one. He took a helmet-to-helmet shot and clearly was concussed. Regardless of how I feel about someone, I can’t abide taking pleasure in watching their brain get scrambled.”
Another agrees that he’s “All for the guys downfall but i can agree that last one is a bit much”. It’s almost like being at the event.
Given 60 percent of Reddit users identify as men, the characterisation of Snark Reddits as a special place in hell for “women hating on women” (to paraphrase Taylor) is questionable. Men’s presence on the platform adds another element to what many see as the dark heart of these communities.
The Dark Side Of Snark
While women might not be the only people hating on snark reddits, snark reddits are a place for hating on women. With the exception of Travis Kelce, almost all snark reddits are dedicated to female influencers.
Many snarks are fairly neutral (borderline boring). Most of them target perceived authenticity versus inauthenticity, body image issues and promotion of fast fashion.
A typical post is one made about “fake relatability” that uses model Leona Naomi as example. The model shared that she had gained a little weight over the holiday period but had decided to indulge knowing enjoying herself would be worth needing to “work it off.” The post is accompanied by an extremely flattering photo of her. “Why do influencers make posts to seem relateable when they’re obviously just body checking?” writes Sad-Regular-9612. “So brave of her to post this 🫶 hopefully she can loose the 5 pounds she gained!!!” users comment.
Others call out mean girl behaviour or, in Schofield’s case, more serious breaches of the social contract like racism.
While it can feel petty, it’s not profoundly problematic stuff.
However, in the mix of these comments, you’ll find sudden speculation about whether an influencer’s partner is a paedophile or vicious attacks on “botched” plastic surgery or their bodies. Some subreddits have resulted in legal action taken by influencers.
Lily Chapman, who filed a police report in 2023 against an anonymous stalker. She alleged that the stalker had used a influencer snark reddit about her to spread rumours and harass her on multiple social platforms. One user, according to Chapman, used a snark reddit to spread unfounded rumours of fatphobia, transophobia and racism across the platform. Soon she went from being labelled a “pick me girl” to being advised to “drink bleach” and end her life. Eventually she was doxxed, which on Reddit means her address was released to the public. Chapman lost all of her brand deals during the controversy and was forced to hire a private investigator and send out multiple cease and desists for defamation and contract interference while dealing with her unborn baby being called a “b*tch.” Chapman has since advised other influencers on managing snark and launched a “cancel me” line of merch.
Are Snarkers Content Creators?
One interpretation is that the snark reddits are the modern equivalent of the public stocks, an opportunity to shame people and vent amorphous anger. People seem to think these threads are helping them “survive” 2025. We’re bombarded by displays of wealth, unfair treatment and inequality that many of us feel we’re victims of.
A snarker in a thread about Haw Ta girl expands on this train of thought: “This is what’s wrong with the world now. People with zero credentials, education, or actual intelligence become “famous” over the dumbest viral stuff and think they’ll have it made forever. And she’ll probably start getting brand deals with like lube companies and make more than a doctor and lawyer.” It’s a legitimate complaint; the notion that hard work will get you anywhere in countries like America and Australia has been a lynchpin of our understanding of democracy. Now, people can fluke into fame and money while news about Taylor Swift’s use of private jets is rubbed in our faces (conveniently distracting us from the activity of other billionaires like Elon Musk).
Snarkers responding to The Cut article were defensive of the suggestion they spend “hours” snarking. “I shook my head @ the hours part. the tone of the title appears to infantilise snarking. Hopping on to make a two-second comment does not require much.
And: Yeah, popping on Reddit while in line for popcorn or coffee, waiting on a laser facial, or during a boring Zoom meeting isn’t the dedication they make it out to be.”
Snark Reddit used to be an example of the parasocial tension between those who consume content and those who create it; a successful influencer has a Faustian pact with the internet—make money and be viciously criticised by strangers. But with Reddit looking for ways to monetise its platform, could its best snarkers turn into its top talent?
What Makes A Good Influencer Snark?
Whatever snarkers say, there is an art to their craft. commenters on The Cut Instagram post were critical of the level of snark offered up by those who agreed to be interviewed, which they saw as paltry, like simple criticisms of lip filler or the mere suggestion that they have no “substance” or that they’ve taken too many vacations. The best snarks contain simple ideas and vivid imagery.
The most popular snarks are typically simple ideas that strike a cord and spark conversations. A trending snark on Hawk Tuah says merely “Tired of Hawk Tuah”, while a “pitch” on the crimes of YouTube content creator Hayley’s Corner that runs to 1945 words receives only one comment. And then there’s the virtuoso feats of language like those levelled at Brooke Schofield that are too compelling to ignore.
The joy of the snark is in allowing other people to bounce off it, not inundating them with ideas. It’s the sense of relief you feel when you gently sound out something a person you know does that’s been bothering you and are met with an avalanche of assent at girl’s lunch. Top snarkers have fans, and top accounts spark new snark (and fan) threads. Given that OnlyFans built its popularity on niche. 0 It’s a level of engagement and virality platforms like Facebook and Instagram would love to see. For now, Snarkers aren’t making money from their posts. Given their level of hustle and Reddit’s ambition to become a commercial platform, we see this future.
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