Online celebrity fandom is a huge part of contemporary social media. So-called “stan accounts” are used by Gen-Z social media users to endorse, promote and represent a celebrity of their choosing in the digital world. Brazilians were a major player in this world, with some of the most important celebrity accounts on X coming from users located in this country. This is no longer the case.
This might come as a shock, but it really shouldn’t. Brazilian stan accounts are everywhere. One might not realize it at first, because they post in English, but they are a core element of every single major online fan base.
Not to mention that Brazil is a market of more than 200 million people, which will no doubt hurt Elon Musk’s intention of making X’s the world’s town square.
Brazilians had celebrity fan accounts on X for almost every single celebrity imaginable
One account that is very popular is @botvirginia, which was an x celebrity account that constantly tweeted quotes from author Virginia Woolfe. This account was managed by a young Brazilian woman who was able to gain almost 115,000 followers on it.
Virginia Woolfe is obviously a famous world-class author, so the account’s popularity should be no surprise.
But what makes Brazilian X fan accounts different from other fan accounts, is how devoted they can be to relatively unknown actors, musicians, and celebrities in general.
A great example of this is the account formerly known as @agron_updates on X. This account was also managed by a Brazilian user, and it was dedicated to Dianna Agron, who is best known for her role as Quinn on the hit Fox series “Glee”. This account was able to gain almost 7,500 followers.
Perhaps the most well-known fan account to emerge from Brazil is the former X account @21metgala, which was operated by two 18-year-old girls. The account had been operating for three years, and even though it covered celebrity news in general, it mainly covered Rihanna and grew their account to more than 175,000 followers.
What’s next for these accounts?
Since the ban on X was imposed in Brazil, most users in the country have fled to alternatives such as Meta’s Threads or Bluesky. According to CEO Jay Graber, the latter app has seen a 90% rise in Brazilian users over the last week, adding almost 2 million since the ban was imposed.
Some accounts, like the previously mentioned @21metgala, have been able to keep posting on X because some internet providers have yet to fully impose the ban. Despite this, however, the connection remains unstable and the account cannot execute its coverage like it used to.
The future of these accounts remains uncertain. There is a possibility that X could be unbanned in the country if Elon Musk were to cooperate with Brazilian regulators. At the moment, this seems unlikely. For now, these accounts will have to conform by posting their content on other social media apps, like Instagram and Threads.
