San Francisco Frontiers - Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial offers fodder for influencers and YouTubers

Every day, it's the same routine: content creators on platforms like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube rub shoulders with legacy media organizations as they set up cell phone tripods and stage their shows, enthusiastically relaying their hot takes.

The trial of Combs, once a titan of the music industry who faces life in prison if convicted on sex trafficking and racketeering charges, can't be broadcast. The federal courthouse doesn't allow cameras, laptops, phones or even wireless headphones inside.

So, alongside the many journalists covering the trial, influencers hustle in and out of the courthouse throughout the day to recount the proceedings beat by beat, dropping off and picking up their electronics at security each time.

One woman who goes by the TikTok name "KealoHalika" said in the first two days of testimony she earned an estimated 10,500 followers; her account now has 40,500 followers.

"It was like craziness," she told AFP outside the courthouse. "It's been a lot of moving pieces. It's definitely changed my life."

Combs is incarcerated and doesn't enter or exit the courthouse publicly. But some of the high-profile attendees and witnesses do, including members of the music mogul's family and figures like Kid Cudi, the rapper who testified that Combs's entourage torched his car.

These paparazzi-esque arrivals and exits are catnip for content creators to in turn feed their followers.

The brief cameo of Ye, who stopped by to lend his "support" to Combs amid the proceedings, was a particular field day for the chronically online.

Donat Ricketts, a 32-year-old artist from Los Angeles, was a regular at the high-profile Tory Lanez and A$AP Rocky trials in California. He told AFP he makes between $8,000 and $10,000 a month, including through YouTube's ad revenue program and fan donations.

"This is my first time traveling to another state to cover a case," said the creator with about 50,000 YouTube subscribers. "It feels like vacation, plus I'm being able to work and make money from YouTube."

Ricketts didn't study journalism -- but he thinks his "big personality" and ability to relate to online viewers sets him apart.

"This case is the turning point where mainstream media knows that the 'independent journalists' are a force to be reckoned with," he said.

- 'Personal narrative' -

According to a 2024 Pew Research Center study, one in five Americans get news from influencers online; for people under 30, the share jumps to 37 percent.

Reece Peck, a professor of political communication and journalism at the City University of New York, called the competition among content creators "Darwinian."

"They're so scared of losing their clientele or their audience. And so with that logic, that you have to constantly create content, the news cycle is such an attractive source of material," Peck told AFP.

And the Combs trial is a fount, he said: "It's sex, it's violence, and it's celebrity."

Emilie Hagen said she does have a journalism degree but these days publishes via her Substack, also putting out content on Instagram and TikTok.

"I'm there every day providing humorous updates," she told AFP of the Combs trial.

Dozens of traditional media outlets are providing coverage and analysis of the trial. But Hagen said she's "able to go down rabbit holes that they're not allowed to go down."

"I don't have to stick to the daily recap," she said. "I can insert a personal narrative."

Many of her most fruitful videos are of "me interacting with all of the wild people that come to the trial outside the courthouse," she added.

Hagen said she's notched 12,000 more Instagram followers and 10,000 more on TikTok since proceedings began.

She said some fans have donated, which recently allowed her to hire a linesitter. Getting into the main courtroom, as opposed to overflow rooms with video feeds of the trial, can require either arriving overnight or the day prior, and many influencers along with media outlets like ABC News and The New York Times hire people to hold spots.

But even with the deluge of news updates from media outlets and content streams from influencers, some people still want to see the trial for themselves.

Val Solit, a teacher from Los Angeles on vacation to New York, dropped by the proceedings after having lunch in nearby Chinatown with her partner.

"I like crime and dramas," she told AFP, likening the hype to the 1990s-era trial of O.J. Simpson. "It was kind of fascinating to come and see it."

"It's history in the making."

M.Hill--SFF