+2 votes
in General Factchecking by Apprentice (1.4k points)
According to this article, Selena Gomez will be quitting social media due to drama with Hailey Bieber and Kylie Jenner. Over the weekend Gomez surpassed Kylie Jenner to be the most followed person on Instagram. Thus, is this claim true?

7 Answers

+3 votes
by Journeyman (2.7k points)
selected by
 
Best answer

In response to Selena Gomez quitting social media amid Hailey Bieber and Kylie Jenner drama, which has no factual evidence to back it up. In an article titled, 'Selena Gomez Explains Why She Hasn't Been On Social Media For Over 4 Years," Serena Coady reports, "Gomez cut herself off from social media in the name of preserving her mental health." 

https://www.self.com/story/selena-gomez-social-media-mental-health

Furthermore, in an article titled, "Selena Gomez Quits Social Media After Becoming Most Followed Woman on Instagram: 'This is a little silly', Indian Express author writes," This would not be the first time that Selena Gomez would be taking a break from social media. The singer has, in the past, on many occasions, taken a break from social media citing her mental health."

https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/music/selena-gomez-quits-social-media-after-becoming-most-followed-female-on-instagram-8464066/.

The article presented in the claim is an opinion piece that has no evidence to back up its claim. Therefore, this claim is misinformation.

False
–1 vote
by Apprentice (1.1k points)
edited by
After reviewing and reading the article, it is clear that this article is based a lot on opinion and there are not a lot of clear, concrete facts. In addition, the website in which the article was published may not be an extremely reliable source with accurate information. It may be misleading to assume that Selena Gomez will be quitting social media entirely based on the information presented in this article. However, after doing some research, there are other recent articles that claim that Selena is quitting social media. An article by the Economic Times news says, "Selena is quitting social media again. The singer recently announced her decision of Twitter with a video." According to this and other articles this information is true, but still misleading based on the article posted here.
True
+1 vote
by Novice (520 points)
After reading the article it is clear that it is based on a lot of speculation and opinion rather than facts. Most of the information comes from assumptions and reading into small actions. While the accusations of Hailey Bieber being called a "mean girl" is just an acusation not backed by any facts or actions, the claim that Selena Gomez is taking a break from social media is correct. She commented on one tik tok users video "I'm getting off social media" right before deactivating her account. It is also true that Selena Gomez did surpass Kylie Jenner as the most followed female on instagram, but that does not mean Selena Gomez is quitting social media due to all the drama.

https://www.insider.com/explainer-selena-gomez-hailey-bieber-kylie-jenner-social-media-drama-2023-2
Exaggerated/ Misleading
by Genius (41.0k points)
I like the way you explained the claim and why you believe it to be exaggerated/misleading based on your research.
+1 vote
by Journeyman (2.5k points)

Selena Gomez herself has said she is taking a break from social media. The claim that she is “quitting” over drama with Hailey Bieber and Kylie Jenner, however, is exaggerated and uncertain. It is true that Gomez surpassed Jenner in Instagram followers this past weekend and there have been rumors speculating on social media in regard to a potential feud prior to her announcement but she has not revealed if the drama was the reason for her temporary leave. 

According to an article published for BillBoard by Glenn Rowley, “Selena Gomez Announces She’s Taking a Social Media Break: ‘I’m Too Old for This’”, “Selena Gomez used TikTok to announce Thursday (Feb. 23) that she’ll be getting off social media for the foreseeable future.” According to the article, Gomez told her followers, “I love who I am, I don’t care. I’m big, I’m not, I don’t care. I love who I am. And yeah, I’m gonna be taking a second from social media ’cause this is a little silly. And I’m 30, I’m too old for this.” The star also went on to say, “I’ll will see you guys sooner than later,” implying Gomez will return to social media after “a break from everything”. 

The Perez Hilton source provided does clearly show bias and although not the entire article is inaccurate, it does portray a false narrative. Gomez is taking a break from social media, she has not come forward to give any exact reasoning although some motive has been applied through her statements. All in all, Gomez is not “quitting” social media purely based on the drama but she is taking a small step back from the public eye. 

I have attached a link to an E! News report that does dive into some speculation but provides Gomez’s response to her pullback from social media. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_KKApcNwO0 

https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/selena-gomez-social-media-break-2-1235259571/

Exaggerated/ Misleading
+1 vote
by Novice (950 points)
Selena never confirms why she's taking a break from social media. The article is speculating that she's doing it because of the drama. In her recent TikTok live, Selena announced, "I'm just gonna take a break from everything" to her fans. She never stated the reason why she was taking a break. This isn't Selena's first break from social media. In 2019, she revealed that she deleted social media from her phone. By 2021, she was gone from social media for three years. Selena has revealed in the past that her social media breaks were for her mental health. The assumptions in the article cannot confirm that Selena is taking a break because of the Hailey Bieber and Kylie Jenner drama.

https://people.com/music/selena-gomez-is-taking-a-break-from-social-media-im-too-old-for-this/

https://people.com/music/selena-gomez-teases-return-to-instagram-after-deleting-the-app-for-mental-health/
Exaggerated/ Misleading
+1 vote
by Novice (700 points)
I think this claim is at the very least somewhat exaggerated. It insinuates that there's a major ongoing feud between Selena Gomez and Kylie Jenner and Hailey Bieber, and that that drama is the direct cause of her fully quitting social media. Perez Hilton is a tabloid site and isn't a very reliable source in the first place. Its purpose is usually to generate buzz with misleading claims. For this specific claim, there is evidence of a video of Gomez stating on Tiktok Live that she will be "taking a second from social media." But the link between that and the "drama" with Jenner and Bieber that's implied in the article is misleading. In an interview from Vanity Fair from a couple weeks ago, Gomez explains how she no longer controls her social media accounts besides Tiktok, and even Tiktok a lot of it goes through her assistant and managers. That was already before this alleged drama. Also a lot of the drama is exaggerated as well: as for the feud between Jenner and Gomez, they both publicly commented saying it was good between them. And Bieber and Gomez have also publicly shown respect/supported each other. So the claim that there is a huge feud between these women that led Gomez to "quit" social media is pretty misleading.

https://twitter.com/Tomas_Mier/status/1628861167535030272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1628861167535030272%7Ctwgr%5E9f21cca2ca3a2c80c83e31eb1f7c5ddb0c9dddaf%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fperezhilton.com%2Fselena-gomez-quitting-social-media-amid-hailey-bieber-kylie-jenner-drama%2F

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/02/selena-gomez-hollywood-issue-2023
Exaggerated/ Misleading
by Genius (41.0k points)
Nice work pointing out that Perez Hilton isn't the most reliable source for the claim and providing a clear explanation on why you believe it is exaggerated/misleading.
+1 vote
by Novice (810 points)
According to an article I found, Selena Gomez gave an Instagram update saying she will be stepping down from social media after she made an eyebrow comment and Kylie and Hailey shaded her. The accident began when she said she accidentally over-laminating her eyebrows to which Kylie then posted an Instagram story with her eyebrow and captioned "this was an accident?" as well as posting a pic of Hailey. This then caused fans to think that she was intentionally shading her and caused fans and many more people on social media to support Selena and once again bring up the fact that Hailey and Kylie are "mean girls". Selena said "I'm going to be taking a second from social media because this is a little silly. Im 30 and am too old for this..." Meaning Selena noticed what they said and how they were shading her, plus a lot of her fanbase did bring it up and made it a bigger deal on social media but luckily she is being supported by a lot of people.

I think this claim is exaggerated/misleading because Selena could have had more going on with her life. Like she said she's too old to be dealing with this high school drama.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/music/selena-gomez-takes-break-from-social-media-amid-kylie-and-hailey-drama-101677233311942.html
Exaggerated/ Misleading
by Genius (41.0k points)
Nice work explaining what led to people thinking that there could be drama between Gomez, Jenner, and Bieber. For those who aren't in the know, it was enlightening to know this part of the so-called backstory.

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