Audience incentives and the accountability trap

Thank you to BRITA for supporting the podcast, helping us keep our deep dives going, and, of course, keeping us hydrated!

Check out BRITA here: ⁠https://www.brita.com.au/

This episode explores if accountability can actually be enforced online. From Couch Guy to the Coldplay CEO scandal to various celebrity scandals, we break down how accountability culture has evolved into a tool for public shaming, who bears the heaviest burden of that shame, and why the people causing the most harm are often the least likely to face consequences.

Join our Patreon here!!! https://www.patreon.com/c/CentennialWorld/

Please consider buying us a coffee or subscribing to a membership to help keep Centennial World's weekly podcasts going! Every single dollar goes back into this business🩷 https://buymeacoffee.com/centennialworld/

Timestamps:

00:00 Ad read

00:46 Intro

3:46 What is accountability culture?

8:03 Recent examples of “accountability culture” & what accountability culture looks like online

11:20 Why are social media users so obsessed with demanding accountability from literal strangers?

16:35 Who enforces accountability culture? Exploring audience, individual, and elite enforcers

23:47 Can people online ever truly be held accountable?

28:33 Conclusion

Find our podcast YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC18HclY7Tt5-1e3Z-MEP7Jg 

Subscribe to our weekly Substack: https://centennialworld.substack.com/ 

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/infinitescrollpodcast/ 

Follow Lauren on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurenmeisner_/ 

Sources: 

Kelly, E. I. (2024). Accountability in criminal justice. Journal of Social Philosophy, 55(2), 317–335. https://doi.org/10.1111/josp.12560

Pelsinger, C. (2025). Beyond punishment: Towards a framework of transformative accountability. Punishment & Society, 27(4), 785–804. https://doi.org/10.1177/14624745251319345 

Dawson, A. J., Williams, S., & Wilson, A. E. (2025). A Tale of Two Tweets: What Factors Predict Forgiveness of Past Transgressions on Social Media? Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 51(7), 1259–1280. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672231214629

https://www.tiktok.com/@eltheegg/video/7527051338040053006

Bates, L. (2025). The New Age of Sexism: How the AI Revolution is Reinventing Misogyny. Simon & Schuster UK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJqTYQbu4lk&t 

https://www.tiktok.com/@tiffchat/video/7580546574976175390 

Foucault, M., & Sheridan, A. (1996). Discipline and punish : the birth of the prison (2nd Vintage books ed.). Vintage Books, a division of Random House.

https://ethics.org.au/ethics-explainer-panopticon-what-is-the-panopticon-effect/

Dai, R., Thomas, M. K. E., & Rawolle, S. (2025). Revisiting Foucault’s panopticon: how does AI surveillance transform educational norms? British Journal of Sociology of Education, 46(5), 650–668. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2025.2501118 

https://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/cs181/projects/2010-11/Journalism/index1766.html?page_id=21  

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/09/grifter-political-insult-2025-con-artist 

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/grifter