9 Celebrities Who Quit Social Media Because Of Toxic Negativity

Karan Johar — Celebrities
9 Celebrities Who Quit Social Media Because Of Toxic Negativity
October 11, 2022 - 14:00 IST

Social media is a double-edged sword. While on the one hand, it’s a great tool to stay connected with a larger number of people and explore newer career opportunities, it’s also a breeding ground for unimaginable toxicity in the form of harassment and bullying. It may be a tough field to navigate as a regular, non-celebrity, but it gets amplified when you have millions of followers who have opinions on everything you do or don’t.

One of the celebrities who is most often targeted online is Karan Johar. If trolls aren’t coming at him for his movie casting choices, they attack his sexuality and his twin babies. The trolling got so severe recently, that the director announced a departure from his Twitter account. Earlier this week, Johar Tweeted at his 17.2 million followers for the last time, saying that he is quitting to “make way for positive energies”.

Johar is not the only celebrity who has left a social media platform to escape the negativity. Here are some of the most popular celebrities who quit social media to focus on their mental health.

Aamir Khan
**Aamir Khan**
The *Lal Singh Chaddha* actor was a fairly regular Twitter user and joined Instagram for a few days too. But following his birthday in 2020, the actor announced that he was leaving social media for good in order to “drop the pretence”.

Millie Bobby Brown
**Millie Bobby Brown**
The *Stranger Things* actress was a victim to a bizarre social media meme trend where people started using her image to make homophobic comments. Brown had nothing to do with the comments and it was a case of a joke taken too far. The actress also deactivated her TikTok account after receiving numerous hateful and inappropriate messages from adult men.

Selena Gomez
**Selena Gomez**
One of the most followed people on Instagram, the pop star revealed that she deletes the app from her phone after regular intervals as a security measure, following her account getting hacked that leaked some of her most private photos online. Gomez also admitted that it allows her to spend a few days without being exposed to the negativity and toxicity online.

Sonakshi Sinha
**Sonakshi Sinha**
Before she deactivated her Twitter account, Sonakshi Sinha was one of the most savage celebrities on the platform. The actress wasted no opportunity to clap back at ignorant haters and gave us several gems. But it all got too much for her and she said goodbye to her 15.9 million followers, saying, “The first step to protecting your sanity is to stay away from negativity.”

Ariana Grande
**Ariana Grande**
While nobody knows the exact reason why the ‘God is a Woman’ hitmaker quit Twitter in 2021, it is speculated that the incessant comments about her relationships and trolling led her to the decision.

Kendall Jenner
**Kendall Jenner**
The supermodel revealed that she likes to take weeks off from the platform after realising how dependant she had become on it. Jenner revealed that the first thing she would do every morning would be to check Instagram. She admitted that she deletes all the apps from her phone for a complete digital detox for a few days.

Alexandria Ocasio Cortez
**Alexandria Ocasio Cortez**
The US Congresswoman revealed that, despite relying on the platform heavily during her campaign, she had to deactivate her Facebook. She realised how dangerous the platform had become and spoke about how it poses a public health risk to everybody in terms of increasing rates of depression, anxiety and addiction.

Saqib Saleem

Saqib Saleem

The 83 actor quit Twitter after getting tired of all the bullying and irrational hate. Saleem wrote, “When we met for the first time, you were lovely. A great platform to express feelings, gather knowledge and understand many different points of view. But, of late you seem to have gotten lost in all the hate everyone is so ready to throw at each other, a place full of bullies, a place where abusing people is a normal code of conduct.”