Kanye West’s social media activity on X in the past week presents a disturbing case study in how platforms continue to struggle with the intersection of celebrity influence and content moderation. But what’s missing is a vital discussion about the confluence of these factors with West’s mental health condition.
In case you missed the headline-grabbing uproar, what began as a slew of antisemitic vitriol and claims of “dominion” over his wife, became a restriction of West’s X account (which has now been lifted) and finally, a self-proclaimed voluntary exit from the platform. Of course, this spectacle resulted in a flurry of media coverage about his swastika T-shirt sales, “love” for Hitler and even his bizarre post about Taylor Swift. As a result of his remarks, West has come to dominate the media in a firestorm reminiscent of his previous outburst in 2022.
Following the obsessive coverage and analysis of West’s hateful rants, brands like Gap, Adidas and most recently Balenciaga have cut ties with the rapper. However, despite his defense of Sean “Diddy” Combs, X only restricted his account after he posted pornographic material. (Apparently, hate speech alone did not meet the site’s restriction standard).
While people have tossed around the word “unhinged” when referring to West’s posts, they aren’t talking enough about what it means to be unhinged — specifically, when referring to a rapper with an extremely large platform and amount of influence struggling with a mental health relapse.
West has openly discussed his diagnosis with bipolar disorder in interviews and on his album “Ye.” The manic pace and grandiosity of his recent posts (which I believe go far beyond typical rapper posturing) and their devolvement into incoherence can be likely described as the psychological term “word salad.” This incoherence of speech is just one of West’s behaviors that align with untreated bipolar disorder symptoms. In 2018, West shared that he had stopped taking his prescribed medication, partly because he felt it interfered with his creativity, and partly because his wife, a model and architectural designer — but notably, not a psychiatrist — suggested he was misdiagnosed.
In a 2021 Netflix documentary, West opened up about his suicidal thoughts and substance abuse issues. Compounded with his highly erratic behavior last weekend and beyond, it is not difficult to tell that he struggles with mental health issues. To be clear: nobody, not even physicians, should attempt to diagnose mental illness based on social media posts alone. Many people with mental health conditions filter their online presence, and hateful content frequently comes from people without diagnosed conditions.
But platforms shouldn’t ignore the harm caused by giving someone in an apparent mental health crisis unchecked access to and influence over millions of followers. In fact, 32 incidents of antisemitic attacks linked to West’s online hate speech have been recorded since 2022. It doesn’t help that social media platforms benefit from high engagement. Since contentious posts drive more traffic, companies profit more, potentially at the expense of people’s health.
West has since denied his apparent mental health crisis. In a video posted to Instagram, he assures viewers that he’s doing well and there’s no need for an “intervention.”
“I’m in a positive space,” he says, going on to call his bursts of hate and conspiracy theories “cathartic.” His assessment of the toxicity he spewed onto X: “I got my ideas out, that’s all that happened.”
When West uses social media as a “sounding board,” he fails to recognize the impact his “venting” can have. Unlike non-celebrities, West has a massive following and his posts have major influence. Celebrities should be held responsible for understanding the power they hold in shaping social culture, especially because we have seen that even just a few words can trigger followers to act accordingly.
The blurred lines between personal expression and public responsibility lies at the heart of many social media controversies. But this gray area becomes heightened when someone’s markedly harmful comments seem to be motivated by their mental illness. We need to figure out how to approach outbursts like West’s with empathy while maintaining clear limits and rules on acceptable behavior. We need to find a way to support mental health without enabling the spread of hate speech. In a world where the desire to go viral is linked to the maxim, “any publicity is good publicity,” more and more social media users publicize every thought they have without considering the harm those thoughts may cause.
West’s departure from X might feel like a welcome reprieve from a viral slew of antisemitism in the cultural zeitgeist, but it doesn’t solve the underlying issue: that a celebrity’s mental health can trigger such pernicious actions, and go relatively unchecked. What happened this week should serve as a wakeup call for West to find this balance — and signal how urgent the need is to place guidelines on this kind of behavior.