From AROHA to Vyra: How Māori Bullies Weaponised Te Whāriki and TikTok Let Them

In February 2026, Australian activewear brand AROHA rebranded to Vyra following sustained bullying on TikTok. The bullying was led by Māori voices who weaponised te reo Māori concepts—including Te Whāriki principles—against a non-Māori business owner engaging with the language. This article examines how frameworks designed to nurture Māori language and culture were inverted into tools of exclusion and destruction. It analyses TikTok's failure to intervene despite policies prohibiting bullying. The article argues that when cultural defence becomes organised harassment, it violates both the spirit of Te Whāriki and the safety obligations of digital platforms. The case of Vyra Activewear serves as an example of how revitalisation movements can be weaponised against those they were meant to include. Further, this article examines how the bullies coined a new Māori word during their campaign—Kaia—which functions as slang for theft, derived from the legitimate Māori words tāhae and whānako (Moorfield, 2011; Williams, 1917). This neologism, born from bullying, has entered usage and now belongs to the victim—Katie Bourke.