With the recent onset of the global phenomenon Tik Tok making its way into mainstream media, certain news outlets are taking advantage of the elusivity and drama that follow these teenage stars.

Take the Hollywood Fix, for example. While there are other popular paparazzi channels on YouTube, the Hollywood Fix is easily one of the most prominent ones.

Within the past few months, this channel with over 1.5 million subscribers has been flooding their page with short paparazzi interviews set in the streets of LA. The mastermind behind these videos, Fletcher Greene, is a 38 year old reporter who has an eerily thorough knowledge of all that happens in teenage TikTok melodrama.

Greene’s reputation for hunting down these stars at the most random locations precedes him. He has been known to show up to homes, ambush teens at gas stations, and wait for them outside restaurants. While clearly effective at uncovering popular stories and gaining traction for the channel, it does raise the question of the kind of privacy that these stars are owed.

Although the public eye is part of the job description that comes with being a celebrity or influencer, the methods of these paparazzi outlets certainly have fans and stars alike questioning how far is too far. Greene is careful to stay in public places or outside residential ones, but the overall trend seen at the Hollywood Fix and other paparazzi outlets as well to increasingly track these stars’ movements is unnerving.

Despite the discomfort that these videos bring, though, it’s no surprise that their overall popularity has grown. To say that the industry, now more than ever especially, is profitable would be an understatement. With multiple videos a day and hundreds of thousands to millions of views on each video, the revenue from AdSense alone is astounding.

Another interesting trend that these paparazzi channels are highlighting is the overall shift in the media away from mainstream celebrities and onto these teenage social media stars.

Even more established media outlets like Entertainment Tonight and the New York Times have been putting more and more attention to these influencers who have only really grown into their fame in the past few years. Although this might just be a temporary trend and not something here to stay, it is a testament to the influence of the current generation on everything from entertainment to news.

<Emily Chang / West Ranch High School 12th Grade>