When influencer logic and news media logic converge in the scandalization of and influencer: The exposure of literary critic and influencer Katherine Diez’ plagiarism

In January 2024, the high-profile Danish literature critic and postfeminist influencer Katherine Diez was scandalised when users on Reddit exposed that she had plagiarised in some of her posts on Instagram and in some of her cultural reviews and columns produced for magazines and news media. In this article, we analyse the unfolding of the scandal across media through a qualitative thematic analysis of the intermingling of three types of media content: news articles, user comments on Reddit, and user comments on Instagram. We argue that two logics – the logic of influencers and the logic of news media – worked together to create an authenticity scandal, compromising not only the main component of the persona construction in influencer culture – that is, the performance of authenticity – but also the foundation of the news media logic – that is, trustworthiness, truth, and fact-checking.