20 Celebs Who Went For A Total Blackout On Social Media (& Why)

Being a celebrity comes with a lot of perks, but also a lot of responsibility because these individuals have been given a platform to speak and share their opinions. Many people are clearly interested in what these individuals have to say (or simply to look at their photos), which is why celebrities have millions of followers on their Twitter and Instagram accounts. But there have been times when their opinions anger people and the only way to turn off the negativity is to go on a total blackout from social media - sometimes, even the rich and famous just need to get away from everything.

Some A-listers, like Daisy Ridley and Pete Davidson, made the decision to delete social media because of the comments they received after they shared their thoughts, others, like Justin Bieber, did it just because their relationships were getting too much attention. And then there are those who decided to wipe their accounts clean by deleting all of their photos, in order to create a hype around an upcoming project, like Taylor Swift and Blake Lively have both done.

Below are 20 celebrities who said "enough is enough" and promptly quit social media (although not necessarily forever).

20 Miley Cyrus Wiped Her Instagram Clean But Her Reason Is Unclear

Miley Cyrus surprised her fans when she decided to delete all of her Instagram posts in July of 2018. According to Glamour, fans noticed that the singer had started to delete hundreds of posts, and then, within a week, everything was gone.

The interesting thing about Cyrus' decision is it came without warning, but there is speculation that her decision was made because she wants to promote new music.

Could her social media blackout be an indication that she wishes to tease it on Instagram?

19 Pete Davidson Doesn't Want To Be On Social Media Anymore

One of the more recent people to go on a social media blackout is Pete Davidson, comedian and former fiancé of Ariana Grande. According to People magazine, he first wiped his posts following the negative remarks he received on Instagram after Grande's fans misinterpreted a comment he made on one of the singer's Instagram posts.

Davidson shared his reasons for leaving Instagram on an Instagram Story, explaining to fans, “No there's nothing wrong. No nothing happened. No there's nothing cryptic about anything.

I just don't wanna be on Instagram anymore. Or on any social media platform.”

18 Lorde's Social Media Blackout Could Mean New Music Is Coming

If you head over to Lorde's Instagram now, you'll find she only has three posts. It was a decision she made in May of 2018, and her reason was more mysterious than many of the others on this list because there was no big event or negativity that had happened prior to her decision.

Although the blackout on social media may signal that she's about to release new music, as Time notes many artists, like Taylor Swift and Zayn Malik, have done the same in the past.

17 Zayn Malik Deleted Everything For Professional Reasons, Not Personal Ones

As mentioned above, Zayn Malik is another celebrity who deleted his Instagram photos. Malik's decision happened in April of 2018, and many suspected that it could have something to do with his split from model Gigi Hadid, however, as MTV reports, the reason behind the singer's decision was made clear when he returned to Instagram to tease a new professional project.

Malik posted a video of himself and an upcoming project which he captioned with a simple, “04/12/18.” And then later posted several teasers for his new track, “Let Me.”

16 Kanye West Took Heat For His Actions And Then Took A Break From The Internet

Kanye West is one of the most controversial celebrities and often what he says on Twitter gets a negative reaction. At the end of 2017, West deleted his social media, and then in October of 2018, he deleted everything for the second time.

No one really knows the reason, but the timing of his decision seems to suggest it was the reaction to his off-air Saturday Night Live comments and his political opinions, which earned him criticism.

According to People magazine, a source told them, “Kanye got to the point where he realized his rants were becoming unhealthy. This is why he deleted his account.”

15 Justin Bieber's Love Life Created Some Unwanted Attention

Justin Bieber is now a married man and has found love with Hailey Baldwin, but his relationships often get a lot of unwanted attention. This seemed to particularly annoy Bieber in 2016, when he was linked to Sofia Richie, and the negative comments about his love life became too much.

He asked fans to play nice, but when they didn't listen, he decided to delete his account.

But the blackout didn't last long, and Bieber returned to social media not long after to share photos from his tour.

14 Chrissy Teigen Said Goodbye To Twitter… For A Week

Fans have come to rely on Chrissy Teigen to post honest and relatable comments about being a parent, and her life in general. She is sarcastic and hilarious, and her tweets often make headlines, but in 2014, she made a controversial tweet which angered many people and resulted in Teigen's decision to quit the platform, People reports. She commented on her decision before deleting her account, writing,

“I can't see anything through the sea of hate and anger that is now my Twitter. Seriously I can't sift through it all.”

And then she was gone, only to return a week later.

13 Blake Lively Unfollowed Her Husband To Follow A Bunch Of Emily's

Ahead of Blake Lively's new film, A Simple Favor, she made a bold decision to delete all of her photos from Instagram, as well as unfollowing everyone she follows, including her husband, Ryan Reynolds, Glamour reports.

Actions like this don't happen without attention from fans and the media, and this is exactly what Lively wanted!

Her decision was to promote her film, and she changed her bio to read, "What happened to Emily?… " and started following people with the name Emily Nelson, the name of the character she plays in the film.

12 Lindsay Lohan Celebrated A Year Of Renewal With A Social Media Cleanse

Lindsay Lohan is back on Instagram, but there was a time in 2017 when she thought it was best to delete all her posts. Although her decision for the blackout is not clear, it could be that Lohan simply wanted a break and a fresh start, especially since her very public split with her fiancé Egor Tarabasov the year before.

She returned to Instagram, but in 2018, deleted all of her posts again, which according to Daily Mail was done to mark a “period of renewal” in her life.

11 Cardi B Had A Short Break From Everyone's Comments

Cardi B decided to take a break from social media for a week, following a feud with fellow female rapper, Azealia Banks. What followed was an exchange of words and criticisms of each other, until Cardi B posted one final message and then deleted her account, showing she was putting this argument to rest.

The reason for Cardi B's short social media break was to escape the drama and she revealed in a response to a tweet that she “wanted to see if people will finally keep my name out they mouth.”

10 Kendrick Lamar Used Instagram To Create A Hype Around His New Album

In March of 2017, it was Kendrick Lamar's decision to wipe his Instagram clean and get fans talking. He chose to delete every post, except for one depicting the Roman numeral number four.

The Fader pointed out that there was the suggestion that the IV could be Lamar's nod to his fourth album studio album, with his most recent before this dating back to 2015. In April, the rapper made it clear this was the reason and teased his fourth album, Damn.

9 Taylor Swift Made A Smart Promotional Strategy By Deleting Social Media

In what was perhaps the most surprising and well-documented of all social media blackouts, Taylor Swift decided to wipe all of her Instagram images.

A smart move by the singer because it created a hype every time she started to post again.

All of her posts were very cryptic as she teased her new 2017 album, Reputation. Needless to say, media outlets were greatly interested in every new post, giving Swift a lot of attention ahead of her album drop.

8 Daisy Ridley Feels It's Healthier To Limit Her Online Presence

Celebrities are given a platform to share their opinions, but often people don't agree with them and this can result in a lot of unwanted attention. This is what happened to Daisy Ridley in August of 2016, when she used her Instagram page to share her opinion on violence control.

The reaction made Ridley decide to delete her account and take a break from social media, and although she returned the following year, she ultimately decided it was healthier for her to not have Instagram.

7 Armie Hammer Doesn't Appreciate Comments About His Career

Buzzfeed's article may be partly to blame for the reason Armie Hammer deleted his Twitter account. According to People, after reacting to an article that the publication posted about his career entitled "10 Long Years of Trying to Make Armie Hammer Happen," the actor commented on the post, and then deleted his account a day later.

Although he returned a few weeks later, Hammer revealed that he had stepped away because "I just have no impulse control.” He told The Wrap, “So if somebody says something stupid, I couldn't help but say something back, and then it just exploded. This is a toxic environment, and my life is way better off."

6 Rob Kardashian's Antics Resulted In Some Time Away From Instagram

Unlike his famous sisters, Rob Kardashian isn't all that comfortable with sharing his life with the public, and he also doesn't spend much time thinking about the potential consequences that his actions can have. Especially when they are made so publicly.

Kardashian has made some controversial decisions with his comments and posts on social media. This includes his remarks about his former fiancée and baby mama Blac Chyna, following their split, Newsday reports. So, perhaps it's not all that surprising that Kardashian is no longer tweeting anything and doesn't have an Instagram account.

5 A$ap Rocky Figured Deleting Everything Was Worth It For One Reason

In January of 2018, A$ap Rocky got many fans talking after he mysteriously deleted everything from his Instagram page. According to Spin, he then posted a single polaroid image onto the account, with the caption, “REVIVAL.”

This immediately got people thinking that he could be releasing new music - as we have seen a handful of musicians resort to this tactic in the past - and in May of 2018, their question was answered. The rapper released his new album, titled Testing.

4 Rihanna Got Bored Of People's Comments About What She Was Posting

She may have 65.4 million followers on Instagram now, but there was a time when Rihanna felt it was best she deleted her account. In May of 2014, she deleted her account, but returned in November of that same year.

Her reason? No one can be sure, but E! News did report at the time that Rihanna had, prior to her decision to delete her account, posted some NSFW photos, including her photoshoot from Lui magazine. She reportedly received criticism for her decision to share these pics.

3 Kelly Marie Tran Penned An Op-Ed About The Backlash She Received Online

Instagram can be a wonderful place for sharing photos and connecting with people, but it can also be an ugly place, as Kelly Marie Tran found. The actress was subjected to unwanted messages following her portrayal of the character Rose in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, a casting decision that some were not pleased with.

She deleted her account, but later spoke up against online bullying in an op-ed for the New York Times, writing, “It wasn't their words, it's that I started to believe them.”

2 Ed Sheeran Posts Photos With Cute Cats, But There Was A Time When He Didn't

Social media can be bad for some people's health because of all the negativity that exists, but it can also give a distorted view of reality. Ed Sheeran made his decision to take a break from social media for a different reason; he wanted to see the world, and not through a screen. He took to Instagram in December of 2015 to let fans know he would be taking a break, writing,

"I've had such an amazing ride over the last 5 years but I find myself seeing the world through a screen and not my eyes,

so I'm taking this opportunity of me not having to be anywhere or do anything to travel the world and see everything I missed."

1 Emma Stone's Privacy Was Invaded And That Made Her Forget About Using Twitter

Emma Stone had her privacy compromised during a 2012 Twitter hack, which obviously discouraged her from using the platform again in the future. In fact, Stone is one of those celebrities who prefers to stay off the grid, and she spoke about her social media usage in an interview with Elle.

She said, "I think it wouldn't be a positive thing for me. If people can handle that sort of output and input in the social media sphere, power to them.”

References: Miley Cyrus Instagram, Glamour, People, Time, MTV, People, People, Glamour, Daily Mail, CapitalXtra, Kendrick Lamar Instagram, The Fader, Vanity Fair