In yet another example of how social media is as much a curse as it is a boon, Stranger Things actress and anti-bullying advocate Millie Bobby Brown was forced to leave Twitter following a series of homophobic memes which surfaced online.

It seems to have begun way back in November 2017 with a handle called @KelsFiona but it morphed into something else altogether this time around. Mashable reports that @KelsFiona had tweeted in 2017 about how the 14-year-old had snatched her hijab – a lie that was immediately called out by netizens who observed that the woman didn’t wear a hijab in the first place. @KelsFiona replied that that was because “she ripped it off me”.

 

Thankfully, the handle was suspended by Twitter and the tweet was deleted but not before the hashtag #TakeDownMillieBobbyBrown came into being. And as it often unfortunately happens, fake Snapchats, memes and stories about Brown began surfacing on the micro-blogging site.

 

 

What may have started out as a ‘harmless joke’ went way out of control. It is a known fact that people often take everything see or read on social media to be the gospel truth. Fake news is one of the biggest epidemics affecting the social media world and this time, it was Brown who had to take the fall.

On Wednesday, Mashable reports, Brown posted a selfie on her Instagram story with the caption “good vibes only”. If only certain cruel netizens would take her advice and stop spreading hate online.