Social media has become the loudest courtroom in the modern world. A single post can elevate a person to fame or tear their reputation apart. The youth of today live in a digital age where opinions travel faster than facts and where outrage often feels like justice. In Namibia, as in many other places, names have trended on social media for all the wrong reasons. Business owners, influencers and public figures have faced public backlash for bad service, dishonesty, or misconduct. Yet as the lines blur between accountability and destruction, we must ask: are we building a fair society or feeding a cycle of public punishment?
The internet has given everyone a voice. That is its greatest gift and its greatest curse. Social media platforms were created for connection and creativity, but they have also become spaces for public trials. When someone wrongs us, posting about it feels like the easiest way to be heard. A single tweet or TikTok video can spark a wave of outrage that spreads across timelines like wildfire.
Young Namibians are especially active in this space. Many have used their voices to call out businesses that overcharge, service providers who disappoint and individuals who behave badly. Sometimes it works. Wronged customers get refunds, apologies or at least attention. Social media becomes a tool for accountability when traditional systems move too slowly. But other times, it becomes a digital firing squad — a place where anger replaces evidence and personal attacks replace solutions.
The difference between accountability and cancel culture lies in intention. Accountability seeks change. Cancel culture seeks punishment. Accountability says, “Let us learn, correct, and move forward.” Cancel culture says, “You are finished.
When a business provides poor service or a public figure behaves unethically, it is fair to demand responsibility. People have a right to express frustration and warn others. But when that expression turns into ridicule, personal attacks, or threats, the conversation loses its purpose. It becomes about humiliation rather than reform.
This distinction matters. A society that thrives on destroying reputations will eventually destroy its own sense of empathy. Justice without compassion turns bitter. Young people must learn to question not only what is being said online but also how it is being said and why.
Social media amplifies everything from success, failure, and shame. It allows truth to spread, but it also multiplies misunderstanding. A screenshot taken out of context can ruin someone’s name before facts are verified. Even when the truth later emerges, the damage is already done.
This digital power creates fear. Many young professionals, creators and entrepreneurs now live cautiously, terrified of making a single mistake that could go viral. The internet does not forget easily. A post made in anger, a poorly worded joke or a bad review can haunt someone for years.
At the same time, social media also empowers voices that were once ignored. Survivors of abuse, employees facing unfair treatment or customers scammed by dishonest businesses now have a platform to speak up. In that sense, the internet can be a tool of justice. The challenge is learning how to use that power wisely.
Behind every trending name is a person who is often confused, frightened and regretful. Cancel culture does not always allow room for apology. It turns mistakes into permanent labels. For young people still finding their path, that can be devastating.
A society that believes in growth must allow people to change. Calling out harmful behaviour is necessary, but calling off someone’s entire future may not be. The goal should be transformation, not erasure. Public shaming rarely teaches empathy; it teaches fear and resentment.
Empathy does not mean excusing wrongdoing. It means recognising the difference between deliberate harm and human error. If someone has genuinely hurt others, accountability must follow. But if someone has made a mistake and shows remorse, the fair response is education, not exile.
In Namibia, social media has become the new customer service desk. Many people use platforms like Facebook and X to share their experiences with companies and service providers. Sometimes this is necessary, as public pressure can make organisations take responsibility faster. However, it can also spiral into chaos when frustration turns into mob behaviour.
For example, when people name and shame small business owners for delays or errors, the tone of the post determines everything. If it invites dialogue, it encourages accountability. If it invites mockery, it spreads hostility. Many young entrepreneurs are doing their best with limited resources, facing challenges like power cuts, supply shortages, and cash flow problems. While feedback is important, empathy is too.
There must be a difference between holding someone accountable and ruining their chance to improve. Young people, especially those active online, can set this tone. They can choose fairness over fury.
Forgiveness has become rare in the digital age. The culture of exposure often ignores redemption. If we expect others to be flawless, we forget our own humanity. Everyone has said or done something they later regretted. What saves us is growth.
If someone acknowledges their mistake, apologises sincerely and takes action to do better, society should respond with grace. Forgiveness does not erase accountability; it completes it. True justice combines truth with compassion. Without both, the world becomes colder.
Young Namibians are part of the most connected generation in history. With that comes power, but also responsibility. Before sharing a post that exposes someone, we must ask a few questions. Is it true? Is it fair? Is it necessary? Is it helping anyone?
Critical thinking is the shield that protects truth. Fact-checking, empathy and context must guide our use of social media. Schools, universities and youth organisations can also play a role in teaching digital ethics how to debate respectfully, verify information and use platforms responsibly.
Online spaces reflect who we are offline. If we learn to be fair and kind on the internet, those values will spill into real life too.
The solution to cancel culture is not silence. It is balanced. We should speak up against injustice, discrimination and exploitation, but we should also leave room for conversation and change. People cannot grow when they are shut out.
Young people have the power to redefine what accountability looks like. It can be firm yet forgiving, strong yet compassionate. It can correct without condemning. That is the culture worth building.
Social media movements should remind us that activism does not always need anger to be powerful. It needs purpose and empathy. We can call out wrongs while still believing in people’s capacity to do better.
Cancel culture and accountability are not the same. One destroys; the other rebuilds. One silences; the other teaches. The choice between them is ours.
As the digital generation, young Namibians have a responsibility to shape how justice looks in the age of social media. Let ‘s use our platforms not as weapons, but as classrooms and places where honesty, respect and learning coexist.
The internet should be a space where truth thrives, not where people are torn apart because in the end, what we post says as much about us as it does about those we judge. And perhaps the true measure of progress is not how loudly we call others out, but how deeply we call ourselves in.
