Digital Witchcraft: How the Internet Turned Virality into a Ritual

The internet could be regarded as a spellbook. Virality has become modern sorcery, a digital ritual where engagement is the incantation, algorithms the unseen forces, and influence the ultimate prize. But in this age of digital magic, who are the real spellcasters? And what are the hidden costs of summoning virality?

Intro: The Spell of the Scroll

Once upon a time, virality was accidental—a remix culture of chance encounters and underground moments. Now, it’s a calculated spell. The internet has not only democratized fame; it has industrialized it. From TikTok’s algorithmic seances to AI-generated influencers who feel more real than celebrities, the digital world has perfected the ancient art of ritual: repetition, incantation, sacrifice, and reward.

Virality is beyond content—it’s about belief systems, digital initiation rites, and the playbook of modern-day influence.

  “Our digital experiences are out of body. This biases us toward depersonalized behavior in an environment where one’s identity can be a liability.” —Douglas Rushkoff

From Sacred Rituals to Algorithmic Spells

Rituals have always been humanity’s way of channeling unseen forces—gods, spirits, fate. In the digital world, algorithms have replaced deities, shaping behaviors with eerily ritualistic precision:

🚩The Incantation – A trending sound, a viral meme, a perfect video hook—repeated until it takes hold of the masses.

🚩The Offering – Users sacrifice time, privacy, and authenticity for engagement, chasing digital blessings (likes, follows, dopamine hits).

🚩The Worshippers – Stans, fandoms, niche communities who devote themselves to keeping the spell alive.

🚩The Oracles – AI-powered feeds that predict our desires before we even articulate them.

Case Study: TikTok’s Algorithmic Seances

TikTok’s “For You” page operates like a modern-day divination tool, curating content so hyper-personalized it feels like it’s reading your mind. 40% of Gen Z now prefers TikTok over Google for discovering information, as it bypasses traditional search and feeds straight into their subconscious.

TikTok’s algorithm rapidly analyzes user behavior, sometimes within minutes, by tracking watch time and interactions to curate a hyper-personalized feed—making it one of the fastest-learning recommendation systems in history.

Virality as a Digital Religion

What do Beyoncé’s Beyhive, Andrew Tate’s “Top G” disciples, and MrBeast’s fanbase have in common? They’re not just followers—they’re believers.

Case Study: The Cult of MrBeast

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) doesn’t just create viral videos—he engineers them using psychological triggers. His videos mimic religious structures:

The Sermon: A grand promise (“I’ll give away $1,000,000 if…”)

The Ritual: High-stakes challenges, emotional payoffs, community involvement

The Evangelism: Millions of fans resharing, reenacting, and spreading his digital gospel

According to Forbes’ Top Creators 2024 list, published on October 28, 2024, MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson) earned $85 million over the past year, making him the highest-earning creator on the list.

  “In a world where belief is currency, the best creators aren’t just entertainers—they’re digital prophets.”

 The Anatomy of a Viral Spell: How Influence Engineering Works

Virality is never just organic. Behind every trending moment, there’s an invisible playbook, combining neuroscience, marketing psychology, and AI-driven amplification.

Here’s the 4-step viral blueprint that brands, influencers, and media manipulators use:

Step 1: Emotional Hooking – Tap into primal emotions: outrage, nostalgia, fear, desire (e.g., Greta Thunberg’s anger vs. Andrew Tate’s provocation).

Step 2: The Copycat Effect – Make it easy to replicate (e.g., Ice Bucket Challenge, TikTok dances, AI-generated memes).

Step 3: The Algorithmic Push – Get AI platforms to do the heavy lifting (e.g., YouTube prioritizing “Watch Time” over all else).

Step 4: Tribalism & Belonging – Create a movement where people feel part of something bigger (e.g., Stan culture, NFT communities, political influencers).

Case Study: The Lana Del Rey ‘Cult’

When Lana Del Rey fans started using old-money aesthetics, eerie TikTok edits, and melancholy storytelling, it wasn’t just fandom—it was aesthetic worship. Her music, branding, and aura created a fully immersive belief system, leading to viral trends like “Sad Girl Summer.”

The “Lana Cult” phenomenon on TikTok continues to thrive in 2024, with 89.7 million posts related to the “New Lana Cult 2024” and a massive following that showcases Lana Del Rey’s enduring influence. Her songs frequently go viral on TikTok, contributing to her cult-like following among fans. The trend involves fans changing their profile pictures and engaging in discussions around her music, reflecting a strong sense of community and shared identity among her fanbase.

AI & The New Digital Shamans

In ancient cultures, shamans acted as intermediaries between the human and spiritual worlds, wielding knowledge, rituals, and mysticism to influence outcomes. Today, AI algorithms have taken on a similar role, acting as unseen forces that shape our digital experiences, guide our decisions, and, in many cases, dictate what we believe to be true.

The Algorithm as a Modern-Day Oracle

TikTok’s hyper-personalized AI can predict what users will watch within minutes, much like an oracle delivering prophecies tailored to each individual. OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and Meta’s Llama are reshaping how narratives are created—filtering, curating, and sometimes even fabricating new realities.

    •     Example: AI-driven deepfakes and synthetic media are making digital “truth” more fluid than ever. The viral image of the Pope in a Balenciaga coat, generated by MidJourney, blurred the line between fact and fiction. If a single AI-generated image can trick millions, what happens when AI is embedded in our everyday experiences?

    •     Prediction Markets and AI Influence:

Financial markets, entertainment, and even elections are now subtly influenced by AI-driven sentiment analysis and behavioral predictions. Hedge funds use AI to anticipate stock movements. Music labels use AI to predict hit songs. AI isn’t just assisting decisions—it’s actively shaping them.

    •     Creators & AI Co-Creation:

The most successful creators aren’t just using AI; they’re integrating it into their creative process. MrBeast’s team runs extensive AI-driven A/B testing to optimize every video thumbnail, title, and edit. Lil Miquela, the AI-generated influencer, collaborates with real brands and artists, reinforcing the idea that digital personas—whether human or machine—can command real influence.

We are no longer just consumers of content; we are participants in an invisible ritual—guided by AI, curated by algorithms, and shaped by unseen digital shamans.

“The rise of AI influencers, deepfake celebrities, and synthetic creators means that virality is now programmable.”

Who Really Controls Virality?

Virality is often framed as organic—a content wildfire sparked by audience engagement. But beneath the surface, virality is a highly engineered process, controlled by platforms, media corporations, and data-driven strategies.

The Power Brokers of the Attention Economy

Big Tech, media agencies, and elite influencers are the architects of modern virality. Here’s how:

   •    Platform Bias & Algorithmic Favoritism

TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram don’t leave virality to chance. Their algorithms amplify select creators, trends, and narratives while suppressing others. The TikTok ‘heating’ feature, exposed in internal documents, allows employees to manually boost certain videos—effectively manufacturing trends.

   •    Celebrity & Brand Engineered Virality

Remember the #DamnDaniel meme? That wasn’t organic—it was strategically amplified by media agencies. Brands, musicians, and influencers engineer ‘viral moments’ through coordinated PR, cross-platform strategies, and seeding content with the right audiences.

   •    Shadowbanning & The Gatekeepers of Hype

Just as platforms can push content into virality, they can suppress it. Certain topics, keywords, and creators are quietly shadowbanned, limiting reach without explanation. What we see—and what we don’t—is increasingly dictated by corporate interests rather than pure user demand.

   •    Political & Social Manipulation

Viral narratives aren’t just about entertainment. They influence elections, shape public opinion, and can even destabilize governments. The Cambridge Analytica scandal showed how data-driven targeting turned social media into a weapon for psychological influence. Today, state actors and political operatives continue to leverage virality as a tool for narrative control.

The Myth of Organic Virality

The internet’s magic isn’t random—it’s engineered. Virality is no longer a digital free-for-all where anyone with a great idea can break through. It’s a system meticulously controlled by algorithmic gatekeepers, AI-driven curators, and corporate-backed media ecosystems.

Take the ‘Coastal Grandmother’ aesthetic. What started as a seemingly organic TikTok trend—comfy, old-money Hamptons fashion—was quickly co-opted by brands like Ralph Lauren and J.Crew, turning nostalgia into profit. The result? Searches for linen shirts skyrocketed by 73%, while cream sweaters saw a 57% year-over-year increase. Was this the voice of the people, or a well-oiled marketing machine waiting for the right moment to strike?

Platforms like TikTok have internal “heating” systems, allowing employees to manually boost select content, artificially manufacturing virality. AI-generated influencers like Lil Miquela blur the line between authentic and scripted engagement. What looks like an overnight sensation is often a calculated, behind-the-scenes operation fueled by data analytics, strategic seeding, and well-placed media coverage.

Virality is no longer the domain of bedroom creators—it belongs to the highest bidders. The platforms decide the winners. The brands refine the message. And the audience? They believe it was their choice all along.