Popular content creator, actress and brand influencer Oluwabukunmi Adeaga-Ilori, better known as Kiekie, has fired a strong warning at social media critics who tear down creative projects just to chase views, engagement and money.
Speaking on Tuesday at the QEDNG Creative Powerhouse Summit in Lagos, the skit queen said the rising culture of destructive online criticism is quietly killing Nigeria’s creative industry. The summit focused on the theme “What Creatives Need From Nigeria.”
Kiekie, who has spent more than 15 years on social media, admitted she remains a fan of the platforms but now sees a dangerous new problem.
“As a creative, I think there’s a new problem building right now, and that problem is social media itself,” she said.
She explained that creatives face a unique burden unlike other professionals.
“Just like bankers, when you go to work, they only report to their portfolio managers. But as creatives, we sort of report to the public, so they get to judge our work, scrutinise it, and critique it, and that’s beautiful because in criticism, in a way, you find the need for improvement.”
The problem, according to her, is that some people now criticise only to monetise outrage.
“The challenge we have nowadays is because we have a few platforms that are paying people just to talk. People now just want to talk, and they are just talking.”
Kiekie painted a clear picture of how the cycle works.
“When they come and say, ‘Oh, this particular project is minus 10, minus 100,’ that person has said so just because the person wants some form of reaction from the social space. So that particular video or tweet could get about 10 million views, and maybe those 10 million views could get them like two thousand dollars, so they’re able to pay their rent, change their tyres and so on. But what you’re doing is you’re watering down an entire industry.”
She stressed that such reckless comments often reach potential investors and make them lose confidence in Nigerian creative projects.
As a professional herself, Kiekie urged the public to criticise with responsibility.
“Critique, say what you must, but be mindful of how you say it. Because what we do is to entertain doesn’t mean that it doesn’t take blood, sweat and tears from us. So before you critique that, make sure that that critique is genuine and honest, not because you want to gain some form of clout or get some numbers from it just so that you can earn from it.”
Her message lands at a time when many Nigerian creatives complain about the toxic side of social media, where harsh reviews often travel faster than genuine support. Fans and industry players have already begun sharing the comments, with some calling it a necessary wake-up call for online critics.