It seems like every franchise, from the MCU to Star Wars to even Lord of the Rings, has a large portion of toxic fans. In response, studios are coming up with new ways to combat aggressive fans, including taking over a star’s social media account. While franchises with zealous fanbases have become the dominant form of entertainment on film and television, with the admiration also comes many individuals who will critique, tear down, and even attack any new project within a franchise. Reports of toxic fan behavior are now commonplace, with House of the Dragon getting review-bombed because two women shared a kiss. It feels never-ending, and actors, filmmakers, and studios need to find a balance between taking on these potentially lucrative franchises while keeping themselves mentally and physically safe.

A new report from Variety explores the rise in toxic fandoms over the past few years and how studios are tackling this problem head-on. According to the report, in addition to sending actors to social media boot camp, in extreme cases, a studio might get an actor’s permission to take over their social media accounts. When actors start receiving threats of violence, studios will hire security firms to remove the talent’s information from the internet to protect them from online harassment. Several studio representatives declined to speak with Variety on the record over concerns regarding toxic fandoms, which often employ targeted harassment and coordinate review-bombing of specific titles. One studio representative described it as “just a lose-lose” situation.

Related 10 Movies That Toxic Fans Have Made Less Enjoyable Sometimes fans make enjoying movies more difficult than it should be. Here are 10 films that the toxicity of fans has all but ruined.

The studios have become more aware of anticipating potential toxic backlash, as Variety also reported that some studios now “assemble a specialized cluster of superfans to assess possible marketing materials” and comment on changes to long-running franchises and characters. And studios have actually made changes to their projects based on that feedback. One marketing executive at a major studio who chose not to be named addressed the new normal of dealing with toxic fans. He said:

“It comes with the territory, but it’s gotten incredibly loud in the last couple years. People are just out for blood, regardless. They think the purity of the first version will never be replaced, or you’ve done something to upset the canon of a beloved franchise, and they’re going to take you down for doing so.”

Toxic Fans are a Real Problem

There are far too many high-profile online hate campaigns to list, and they’re even harder to ignore. From 2016’s Ghostbusters receiving online hate before anyone saw a frame of the film and star Leslie Jones being the target of bigoted harassment, to Kelly Marie Tran deleting her social media following the release of The Last Jedi. The Acolyte star Amandla Stenberg took to social media following the series’ cancellation to address the toxic Star Wars fans who attacked the series from the moment it was announced. As the Marvel Cinematic Universe has begun emphasizing more female characters, certain segments of the fandom have become much more critical. Projects like Captain Marvel, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and The Marvels were subject to greater criticism and review-bombing that their male-led counterparts did not receive. Rachel Zegler’s casting as Snow White suddenly led many people to have strong opinions on an animated fairy tale, to which Zegler recently defended her casting.

This is just a small sampling, but it is clear that toxic fandom is a real problem. One TV executive said, “Particularly when it’s a negative, toxic conversation, we don’t even engage. Like with toxic people, you try to not give it too much oxygen. We’ll reply to comments that are positive and elevate those things.” A common source of “criticism” comes from this vocal minority of complaints being rooted in sexist or racist talking points, as seen with the backlash around casting non-white actors for Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. While such critics might say it has nothing to do with race or gender, and is actually about “bad writing,” a pattern emerges: a lot of the projects that tend to get review-bombed are those that put women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and people of color in lead roles.

Because of this, it does seem like the best course of action is to ignore toxic fans, as these individuals only account for a small percentage and are not as important as they think, or want others to believe. Vice President of Star Trek brand development John Van Citters, who has been with the franchise since the 1990s and is no stranger to dealing with vocal fans, put it best when he told Variety, “The vast majority of any fandom are casual fans. The number of people who live and die on their franchises are very, very few, and then those who come after things that they espouse to love with venom are a really, really tiny subset of that already smaller subset of fandom. It’s just much easier to see it now. I don’t know that it’s really that much broader than where things were in 1995 — it’s just that the bullhorn wasn’t there.”

Related Rachel Zegler Responds to Backlash Over Snow White Casting & Support of Palestine The actress, who plays Snow White in Disney’s upcoming live-action adaptation, has dealt with multiple waves of hateful comments online.