“I could wake a slave.”

“Why didn’t the Germans leave Germany before the Holocaust? Now it’s time for us all to leave Germany.”

“(To anyone living) in a place where I won’t get shot because I’m a lesbian… do you want to get married? I need someone who has a non-US passport and is interested in getting married.

“If you’re a black man and you voted for Trump…I hope this cop beats you just as well.”

They are only one handle of viral TikToks which received millions of views during the online meltdown following President-elect Donald Trump’s landslide victory. Other viral videos show people setting up their tripods, recording, then screaming, ranting, or sobbing into the camera for minutes on end, and then uploading that footage to the Internet for the world to see.

On the one hand, this thing is pretty hilarious. Although Trump has many flaws and will certainly do controversial things as president, none of these apocalyptic fears will actually come true. Damn, Trump openly supports gay marriage! But on another level, this deep paranoia is profoundly harmful – and emblematic of the rot in digital culture that is tearing our society apart.

It’s not just these individual creators who are suffering distress: they are inflicting false panic on thousands and thousands of vulnerable young viewers. Just consider the type of comments you’ll find under their videos from daily viewers:

“I’m in Texas and I’m so scared.”

“I’m trying not to worry too much but I’ve been up for 3 hours, crying and freaking out.”

“I feel like I’m going to go 6 feet underground.”

“I’m panicking (for real). We need a proper escape plan.”

It’s one thing to make a fool of yourself. But it is unhealthy to scare thousands of young people into panic based on catastrophic scenarios with no basis in reality. Remember, Trump was already president from 2017 to 2021, and virtually all of those people were fine.

This kind of alarmism can have tragic consequences.

The Trevor Project, an LGBT activist nonprofit that operates suicide prevention hotlines and chat services, reported a 700% increase in the activity of its services after the election compared to the previous week. An unknowable number of misguided and mentally ill young people may tragically commit suicide in response to this election – a dark decision rooted not in the reality of the situation, but in the apocalyptic propaganda with which they have been infected on the Internet.

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Rhetoric has consequences. And while the most hysterical reactions and outlandish rants can help drive views and bring in money, left-wing content creators are doing their audiences a huge disservice in the aftermath of the election.

The world will not end when Trump becomes president again. But some people’s world could come crashing down if they tragically buy into the hysterical nonsense social media stars are peddling.

Brad Polumbo is a freelance journalist and host of the show Brad against everyone podcast.