Meta fired all the support staff and now influencers have no-one to turn to

Among the layoffs at Meta, the company formerly known as and dependent upon Facebook: the staff whose job it was to manage and support influencers. If one is tempted not to care–it suggests that these influencers' fame and their participation in it were marketing campaigns that have now ended–there are broader consequences: scammers, imposters and harassers are running riot in the comments and once they're done with these uncelebrities everyone else is next.

Karlova, who lives in Los Angeles, even became a verified Instagram user, signifying at the time that she was "notable and unique," according to Instagram's help center. But the party ended in a hurry. … For Karlova, that meant internet scammers were suddenly given free rein to her profile, stealing her photos and creating fake accounts that they could use to deceive Instagram users, in some cases convincing them to send money for what they described as adult-related content. "This is really damaging," Karlova said in an interview. "This is my brand and I work really hard to build it to be something impactful and positive."

More prosaically, Facebook Marketplace is now packed with scams, offering items for $99 and linking to hacked URLs, and Facebook does nothing if you report them. Missing stairs everywhere.