What Internet Fandoms and Communities Can Tell Us About 2025

This year, online communities drove news cycles about everything from moldy Lunchable knock-offs and the death of a squirrel named Peanut to the 2024 US election.

More often than not, the internet has been the progenitor of movements, changes, and trends in the real, physical world. As we close out 2024, I wanted to fill you in on some of the online communities I’m keeping an eye on and how they may influence culture, politics, and public health around the world.

Let’s talk about them.

What’s on My 2025 Internet Radar

There is not enough time in the world for me to list all of the absurd subreddits, Discord chats, and TikTok communities I follow to get a sense of how the conversations everyday people are having are influencing our politics. But I wanted to at least list a few that have been top-of-mind for me recently.

Going into the new year, I’m most interested in seeing trends that emerge out of the beauty and lifestyle communities on TikTok and Instagram. In a previous newsletter, I wrote about how themes like “quiet luxury” and “old money” aesthetics on TikTok signaled a Trump win long before polls ever opened. And already, I’ve noticed conservative backsliding in these spaces with Trump’s return to power.

For The Atlantic this week, Kaitlyn Tiffany wrote about how “edtwt” (eating disorder Twitter) is growing on X now that Elon Musk has eradicated any form of trust and safety on the platform. I’ve noticed an uptick in “thinspo”—imagery that encourages unhealthy body images and disordered eating—on TikTok as well. There’s the usual Olsen twin obsession and extremely low-calorie diet plans circulating on the platform, but that content has traditionally been holed away from the generic TikTok user.

Now, my feed is filled with popular beauty influencers giving “health” advice that amounts to disordered eating. The Make America Healthy Again community, or what is essentially a Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fandom, is filled with junk science that goes as far as saying vegetables are toxic. I’m afraid that the same conservative cultural conformity that helped reelect Trump could revive the disordered eating trends that have hurt so many women and girls and return them to the mainstream.

As an unelected official, Musk has only ever had three groups of people to hold him accountable for anything—shareholders, fanboys, and maybe, sometimes the government.

For the most part, the first two believe Musk can do no wrong. Throughout the presidential campaign, many of Trump’s most ardent fans joined the Musk fandom as well, lessening the odds that the government will be subjecting him and his businesses to scrutiny anytime soon. But these Trump fans will always support him before anyone else, even if the other person is the president-elect’s “first buddy.”

Since taking over X, they’ve demonstrated that well enough. Some of the few times Musk has walked back decisions have involved Trump fans expressing disappointment that Musk hasn’t acted like a true Trump fan himself. When Musk suggested that he wouldn’t reinstate banned pro-Trump accounts without them being reviewed by a “council,” Twitter elder Catturd bullied the billionaire into skipping the review process altogether.

Inevitably, more of these situations will pop up under the Trump administration, and I’m curious to see if any of Musk’s supporters end up jumping ship.

The act of drop-shipping—third-party sellers filling retail orders—exploded in popularity in the late 2010s, becoming a quintessential part of online hustle culture. With the introduction of the TikTok Shop, drop-shipping has entered a renaissance of sorts, with more and more people using the app to make quick cash that can scale.

Placing tough tariffs on Chinese imports was one of Trump’s biggest economic promises this election cycle. If TikTok isn’t banned come next month, Chinese tariffs could ruin the app’s drop-shipping profitability, since a majority of the product manufacturing is done overseas. What happens to the drop-shippers? Where do they go next?

Without much guidance or information from the government, conspiracy theories surrounding the mystery drones supposedly hovering over the eastern seaboard have gotten out of control. Just this week, Real Housewives star Bethenny Frankel posted a series of Instagram videos claiming to have a secret Pentagon source who told her that the drones are searching for nuclear material.

Now, I’m not claiming to know the truth about the drones, but I can see what it’s doing to people online. For the past few weeks, I’ve been monitoring one of the largest Facebook pages dedicated to solving the mystery, and what started as a place for folks to share their strange sightings has devolved into hysteria. Members are accusing the mods of working for the Feds of hiding the “truth” (whatever that is) and encouraging others to invest in iodine pills, gas masks, and, of course, toilet paper.

It’s too early to tell, but I’d bet that these groups are introducing already emotional and agitated people to theories they otherwise wouldn’t believe in. Is this what the alien and UAP communities have been waiting for? Maybe! In any event, don’t expect the faithful to believe anything the government says unless someone lays an alien corpse down in front of photographers.

The Chatroom

For the podcast last week, we made a few predictions for what the new year will bring. What do you think will happen next year as it relates to tech and its influence over politics? Send your thoughts to mail@wired.com.

WIRED Reads

• Luigi Mangione Conspiracy Theories Are Going Strong: The internet’s obsession with United Healthcare CEO assassin Luigi Mangione has led thousands of people down conspiracy theory rabbit holes related to the crime. Mangione’s eyebrows are apparently extremely significant.
• The Top Cybersecurity Agency in the US Is Bracing for Donald Trump: The Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy DOGE department is promising to cut what they consider to be unnecessary spending. The US’s top cybersecurity officials are hurrying to protect national security programs and employees from “persecution.”
• Intel Officials Warned Police That US Cities Aren’t Ready for Hostile Drones: Months before drone hysteria took over the country, the Department of Homeland Security warned law enforcement officials that the use of illicit and weaponized drones was on the rise and encouraged them to prepare a response.

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What Else We’re Reading

🔗 FTC Issues Rules Requiring Hotels, Ticket Sellers to Reveal ‘Junk Fees’: There’s at least one political win we can all celebrate this holiday season. This week, the Federal Trade Commission put out new rules banning hotels and ticketing services from hiding extra charges, or “junk fees.” (The Washington Post)

🔗 ‘It’ll Be Brutal’: Inside Trump’s Planned War on Leakers and the Press: The Trump administration is reportedly making new plans to go after the media, including more lawsuits and subpoena threats. (Rolling Stone)

🔗 Elon Musk and SpaceX Face Federal Reviews After Violations of Security Reporting Rules: The US government is reviewing whether Elon Musk and SpaceX have repeatedly ignored disclosure protocols protecting state secrets, like withholding information related to meetings with foreign leaders. (The New York Times)

The Download

When the newsletter went out last week, the last episode of the WIRED Politics Lab podcast hadn’t gone up. If you didn’t catch the conversation I had with Tim Marchman and David Gilbert, I recommend listening to it here.

Coming out of the election, I’m rethinking how the newsletter best serves you all. If you have any ideas or requests, let me know. Otherwise, I’m going to spend the holidays fully logged off, so you won’t see me hit your inboxes again until January 9.

I hope you find time to rest, read, and spend time with loved ones. I’ll see you in the new year. 💞

That’s it for today—thanks again for subscribing. You can get in touch with me via email, Instagram, X, and Signal at makenakelly.32.