Power, Responsibility and Reputation of Internet Celebrities: An Ethical Examination from Social Media "Traffic Dividend" to "Collapse" Phenomenon

In recent years, the "traffic dividend" of social media has led to the rapid rise of internet celebrities, becoming a significant force in the online ecosystem. However, with the rise of traffic-centered business models, internet celebrities frequently experience "collapse" phenomena - rapidly losing public trust due to misconduct or inappropriate speech. Based on cases from 2024 including the "Three Sheep" counterfeit sales incident, "Kongkong Diary" insulting netizens, "Li Jiaqi" inappropriate price comments, "Northeast Rain Sister" selling counterfeits and assault, and "Juanzi Loves Eating" mocking history, this paper combines communication ethics theory to analyze the misconduct and lack of responsibility among internet celebrities in the process of obtaining traffic dividends. It also explores the power structure and reputation management issues of internet celebrities, aiming to propose ethical standards and responsibility mechanism recommendations for the healthy development of the internet celebrity industry.