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Netflix premieres new social media competition show

Updated Aug 6, 2024, 7:00pm EDT
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The News

A shaman, a singer with 27 million social media followers, and an entirely silent character are among the contestants locked in a battle for attention in a new Korean reality show landing on Netflix this week. The latest in South Korea’s wildly popular “survival show” format, The Influencer pits TikTokers against YouTube stars in a popularity contest; their follower counts are displayed on electronic collars as they dole out likes and dislikes to their fellow contestants.

There are “fascinating hierarchies at play,” The Guardian observed: The YouTubers look down on their TikTok peers, while actual celebrities are disdainfully regarded as out of touch. “It offers a bleak assessment of the future of the human psyche and it is horribly compelling,” the reviewer wrote.

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