The final installment of “Depp v. Heard” ends with a poignant statement from “The Viall Files” podcast. “We now live in a time where we don’t necessarily believe who’s right … we believe who we like most,” host Nick Viall says. If that doesn’t sum up the discourse surrounding the case, or the social media experience in general, we don’t know what does.
Throughout the 3-part series, viewers are shown footage of the conversation surrounding Depp v. Heard from a variety of opposing viewpoints. The significance of doing that shouldn’t be downplayed. After all, most social media users didn’t get to see all the different perspectives at the time. Thanks to the algorithms used by separate platforms, we saw what we already wanted to see – and that made it easier for us to interpret things the way we wanted to.
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As it happened, what most people wanted to see was Johnny Depp’s side. Case in point: One of the clips featured in “Depp v. Heard” is an NBC interview with tech reporter Kathryn Tenbarge. “Up until recently, you couldn’t find any TikToks in support of Amber Heard,” she pointed out. That wasn’t all, though. Tenbarge added that those who had voiced any support for Heard tended to be shut down — and fast. The result? A lot of one-sidedness for a decidedly complex situation.
