The Epstein Files are Becoming an Online Joke; This Delegitimises The Gravity of Them
Image via the DOJ’s Epstein Library
Trigger Warning: Discussions of Rape and Cannibalism
Since the most recent batch of Epstein files were released, the internet has been dissecting them in acute detail. Short form content relies on snappy, addictive tag-lines and drama to keep us scrolling. Pairing this style of media with a topic as grave as the Epstein files, dilutes it into nothing more than clickbait-y nonsense.
Cue the scene: you open up your social media of choice, Instagram. After some brief scrolling, you hit a current affairs page with a post about the ominous Epstein files. The headline reads, “Bush named in Epstein Files”. You scan through the caption for a smidge of background information but end up in the comment section, laden with GIFs and cynical remarks about how no one is surprised. Eventually, you tire and swipe left into the Reels section.
The first video you see almost jumps out at you. A backwards-baseball-cap-wearing American content creator is “analysing” a viral video-clip of a supermodel shouting out to a frenzy of paparazzi that the rich, old men she was partying with were “eating humans”. The next clip in the Reel is of a screenshotted email from the Epstein files: George Bush had “raped” a young man on a yacht and the victim had seen people “eating feces out of the intestines of [deceased] babies”. The content creator goes on to compare the viral video with the screenshots, bringing attention to the blatant cannibalism in both sources.
The video of Mexican model Gabriela Rico-Jimenez was originally captured in 2009 and has been circulating around the internet for 17 years, attached from everything to true crime content to now, the Epstein files. The screenshotted email is in fact directly from the U.S Department of Justice’s official website.
What stood out to me was the use of the historically viral Gabriel Rico-Jimenez video; it has consistently been paired with true crime content and has been tagged under both #conspiracy and now #epsteinfiles. The difference is, the Epstein files are not a conspiracy. Moreover, the email used in the Reel was part of a dataset which contained an original email thread. The second part of the thread included meeting minutes of an interview with the aforementioned male “victim” of Epstein. The choice to only use the first email on the thread over the second seemed strategic. The first email is easy to read and contains far more dramatic, albeit macabre, content, where the second summarises a sobering interview with a real victim. The latter, while still abominable, does not have the same clickbait-y edge.
Cherry-picking parts of the Epstein files to create viral content is reckless and ultimately slows down the course of justice. Substituting fact-focused journalism for short form content is a slippery slope, powerful enough to alter the course of global politics. Back in 2024, the internet was rife with memes about Trump which unintentionally pacified us against the horrors of his policies and led to his reelection. We see a similar trend with Reform UK including unflattering Nigel Farage pictures and witty taglines like “Deform”. Trivializing a party that has extremist, society-changing policies, its fair share of scandal, and an upward trajectory in the polls is dangerous and eats out of the same hand as disinformation.
The worst part of making light of the Epstein files is that it immobilises the masses. In response to the most recently released files, I’ve seen comments and posts from thousands of people lamenting over how useless they feel, how “we can’t do anything.” Media literacy is important. As the generation raised on screens, we must find a disciplined approach to the way we consume current affairs. If we don’t, the consequences will be dire.