https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-sad-world-of-the-online-influencer/

But Christian only imagined the fun side of influencing. In a business where attention pays, it’s hard to separate the real from the fake. Danis guaranteed publicity for his fight in Manchester by calling Paul’s fiancée ‘a whore’ on Twitter, and in the months before the fight, Danis tweeted explicit photos of her. His following on the platform tripled. Paul’s fiancée sued for harassment and was apparently granted a restraining order, but Danis kept going. ‘I’m making her more famous than she’s ever been’, he said. ‘She should be the ring girl for the fight!’ In the final round in Manchester, Danis jumped on Paul and tried to get him in a chokehold. A security guard stepped in the ring to protect Paul, and Danis swung at him and missed. More security got involved, and so did Paul’s dad and brother, and Danis’s corner too. It became a brawl, and everyone in the crowd screamed for more.

If you’re not at the top, influencing can be a boring slog, going to sad events and pushing products you’ve no interest in. A few weeks after the fight night in Manchester, in a warehouse in Tottenham, north London, a few hundred small-time social media personalities turned out for the launch of a new ‘collaboration’ between the popstar Rihanna and the sports brand Puma. They’d been invited by a PR agency to promote a trainer called the ‘Creeper Phatty’, and in exchange they got pre-poured cocktails all night. Arrangements like this are common. There was a DJ, and people danced and drank and did photoshoots on their iPhones in front of the Rihanna x Puma branding. A young woman called Destiny stood at the bar, and looked like she didn’t want to be there. ‘My agent was like, Destiny, you have to put yourself out there!’ So she did what she was told.

https://archive.is/jd732