The Public Lands Instagram Blacklist

When the founder of the Instagram account Public Lands Hate You first began calling out influencers for their bad habits online, he did not anticipate how many friends—and adversaries—he’d make along the way. Frustrated by the things he saw on some hikes with his friends, the 31-year-old engineer, who goes under the alias of Steve, created the Instagram account to show how people will trample flowers on public lands, wander off designated trails, and use drones where they’re not allowed—sometimes simply out of a lack of outdoors knowledge but often to also promote products or take photos that would be popular with an influencer’s audience. The photos he puts up, many of which feature prominent nature Instagrammers, have hit a widespread nerve. The account’s audience has grown to more than 60,000 followers and set off a movement of online environmental vigilantes. A post and a caustic remark from Steve can send thousands rushing to the offender’s photo. Their comments range from gentle reminders to stay on the trail to strongly worded admonitions and barfing emoticons or, like one user wrote beneath a photo of nutritionist Jaclyn Zarp pulling out some flowers with the roots, comments hoping her “corpse will add nutrients to the soil.” But this type of online advocacy does not always go over well. After seeing several influencers refuse to take down photos that demonstrate inappropriate actions and then turn off the comments on their posts, Steve is preparing to take things one step further and launch a blacklist of influencers who continue to display “environmentally destructive behavior” in national parks for the brands that sponsor them....MORE