DIY Influencer Accuses Another Woman Of Copying Her Stuff — When The Whole Point Of Her Content Is To Help Other People Do It Themselves
The drama between DIY TikTokers TayBeepBoop and KaarinJoy has sparked a heated debate about what constitutes theft on the internet.
@anniesright / TikTok; @kaarinjoy / TikTok There's no question that copying, or outright stealing people's content and ideas, is rampant online. It's part of the content ecosystem at this point.
But a recent dust-up between two TikTok creators has stirred a heated debate about what constitutes theft online — especially when one chooses to share their work online in the first place.
A DIY influencer accused a woman of copying her.
It's the latest iteration of what TikTok does best — taking totally niche internet spaces and blowing them up to an enormous audience staring slack-jawed at the weird drama that has ensued.
TikTok creator @taybeepboop is a DIY influencer with nearly two million followers who chronicles the refurbishments she does to her San Francisco house and the designs she creates for clients, along with the processes and materials she uses to create them.
All seemed to be well until fellow TikToker @kaarinjoy decided to actually do what @taybeepboop's whole platform is at least nominally about — recreate some of TayBeepBoop's designs in her own home.
After seeing @kaarinjoy's version of her designs (which, it's important to note, Kaarin credited TayBeepBoop for in her videos), the influencer posted a video of her own accusing Kaarin of stealing her ideas, right down to claiming colors as her own, resulting in waves of harassment directed at Kaarin.
The influencer's accusations immediately sparked drama since the entire point of 'DIY' is to teach people to replicate your designs for themselves.
Kaarin was hit with torrents of abuse online for her use of TayBeepBoop's designs — so much so that she posted an emotional response to TikTok talking about how hurt and disappointed she is to be attacked by someone whose designs inspired her.
Kaarin also revealed that she and TayBeepBoop had struck up a sort of friendship prior to this drama, exchanging messages in which Kaarin complimented the influencer on her designs.
But while this whole drama may have started with Kaarin in the crosshairs, that quickly changed. People all over TikTok, and especially those active in the app's "DIY" community, quickly began calling TayBeepBoop out for what they see as a pretty absurd overreach.
In a video commenting on the debacle, London-based sculptor and housewares designer Sebastian Sochan, known as @imnostudio on TikTok, took TayBeepBoop to task for the obvious. "DIY literally stands for 'Do It Yourself.' So how are you going to be a DIY influencer [and] creator and then [not] want people to be inspired by you?"
Others have called TayBeepBoop out for something that makes this drama even more absurd — many of her designs are not even original in the first place.
The ready availability of imagery and content on the internet has absolutely blurred the lines between what can be called an "original" idea, and many people on TikTok seem to feel that TayBeepBoop is a perfect example of this.
One TikToker, @harleybruuuh, created a video full of screenshots of the readily Googlable inspiration TayBeepBoop has obviously taken from others. She called her accusations against Kaarin "crazy... considering everything you're accusing her of copying can be found online and on Pinterest."
"Kaarin didn't copy anybody," she went on to say. "Everyone gets their inspiration from somewhere. You should be flattered. If you don't want people getting ideas from you, you really shouldn't post your stuff."
The tide has definitely turned, and people seem to now be firmly on Kaarin's side.
The videos that started the drama may have been deleted, but people are still letting TayBeepBoop know what they think about the uproar — her other videos are full of frankly hilarious comments about the matter.
A recent video in which TayBeepBoop went to Home Depot to gather materials for painting clouds on a client's ceiling elicited comments like "did you ask the sky if you could paint those clouds?" and "am I allowed to shop at Home Depot or do I need a referral?"
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Others snarkily asked if they were allowed to use paint and ladders or if that constituted theft of TayBeepBoop's ideas. One person even called TayBeepBoop out for filming herself using Home Depot's escalator, writing, "I have a downstairs …….. credit?"
The comments perfectly underline how absurd this drama is. But the real issue is a verified creator with an obviously thriving business in the most expensive real estate market in the country leveraging her vast resources to intimidate a fan who's just living their life and *helping her build her brand* in the process.
The word "bully" comes to mind, and you kind of can't help but feel a bit suspicious of what the goal was here. In the immortal words of Gabrielle Union, "Did you get the views? Did you get the clicks? Did you get the engagement?"
At the end of the day, the people commentating on this debacle have summed it up perfectly —what ever happened to imitation being the sincerest form of flattery? Or at the very least, what ever happened to "DIY" meaning "DIY"?
Taybeepboop might want to get off "DIY" TikTok and start, like, "AMDBDNRTIAWBTIT" ("Adulate My Designs But Do Not Replicate Them In Any Way Because That Is Theft") TikTok instead. It'll save us all a lot of future headaches.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.