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Jenna Drenten, Associate Professor of Marketing, Loyola University Chicago

West Elm Caleb and the rise of the TikTok tabloid

TikTok Caleb West Elm Gabby Petito

On TikTok, stories can be manufactured and dramatized like an investigative gossip reel. Jenna Drenten, CC BY-SA

Can you believe Makayla was dropped from Bama Rush? Do you think Couch Guy was cheating? Did you see Gabby Petito’s last post before she went missing?

If you don’t spend much time online, you may not recognize these names. But on TikTok, their stories became sensationalized, memeified, hashtagged and rehashed.

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