Internet star Shabaz Ali has compared the influence he has gained through social media to an episode of Black Mirror.
With 1.8 million followers on Instagram and over 2 million on TikTok, Ali has gained a loyal following for his sarcastic reactions to the lives of the rich and wealthy.
However, in The Independent’s new podcast Like This, Love This, Ali, best known online as @shabazsays, said that his popularity has eerie comparisons to Charlie Brooker’s dystopian series that is noted for its disturbingly prophetic storylines.
Referring to the episode “Nosedive”, the first instalment of the show’s third season, Ali noted how the story follows a woman who lives in a society where every social interaction is rated by those she interacts with. The ratings then translate to the individual’s socioeconomic status; negative interactions lead to a lower status and positive ones lead to a higher status.
“We are in a points-driven society. I know it from social media,” he said.
“My friends can call up a restaurant and they’ll be really rude and dismissive. The minute I get there, everything changes. We get the best customer service, the best seat. That shouldn’t be the standard and it’s appalling to me that you would do that.”
Ali explained that he has experienced the effects of his privilege with social currency in other interactions, including his sister-in-law’s efforts to secure vendors for her wedding.
“She said,, ‘Shabaz, can you message them? Because they’re not replying to me,” he continued. “I’d message them and they’d reply within a second.”
Ali said it demonstrated how “we live in a status and social media [driven] society”.
Later in the episode, the comedian expanded on how culture has impacted his personal life, saying that growing up with Bollywood films gave him unrealistic expectations of romance.
However, he credited A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini as inspiring his advocacy for women’s rights.
The book, released in 2007, follows a teenage girl as she is forced to marry a shoemaker.
