This week, like much of the world, I have been fixated on the submersible Titan, which disappeared on a trip to the wreck of the Titanic with five people inside.

I read news reports, watched Coast Guard briefings and devoured TikToks from people who used to work on submarines and were experts on carbon dioxide scrubber systems. Yesterday, the story reached a dark conclusion: Wreckage on the ocean floor showed evidence of a “catastrophic implosion” with all aboard now presumed dead.

The crisis was full of surprising social media twists. (For example: The stepson of one of the passengers is now fighting with Cardi B online after she called him out for attending a Blink-182 concert during the search. )

But the way it played on social media seemed highly predictable: The memes and jokes. The calls for empathy. The backlash to the calls for empathy. The backlash to the backlash. Even the self-proclaimed TikTok psychics weighing in.

I was especially jarred by the ubiquity of citizen journalists and at-home news reporters on TikTok.

I spoke with creators who spent this week feverishly posting videos about the sub, and many reported dramatic follower and engagement growth over the past few days.

This behavior isn’t new — it’s been happening for years. (See here: Creators finding rapid fame by covering the Depp-Heard trial.) It’s yet another piece in the pattern of how this whole catastrophe played out online. But it is a piece that becomes more and more substantial as the platform’s popularity grows.

Thanks to TikTok’s algorithm, which decides what videos to serve to millions of users around the world, posting about a major disaster like the Titan can be great for business. A bigger audience can lead to sponsorship deals and even larger payouts from TikTok itself.

Ahren Gray, a 29-year-old content creator from San Diego who also owns a “Dungeons and Dragons”-inspired streetwear brand, had just over 100,000 followers when he began posting about Titan this week. Now he’s over 300,000 and climbing. Gray, a longtime “Titanic” fan, has a tattoo of Kate Winslet as Rose Dawson on his thigh.

“It’s weighing on me a little bit because I know that there are people in the ocean right now that could potentially perish,” Gray said on Wednesday. “When it comes to this level of virality, you really start to think about your morals.”

Gray posted his videos in installments, teasing viewers with dramatic music and cliffhangers, asking them to comment — another good engagement hack — if they wanted another installment. He said he eventually stopped encouraging his followers to do this because it began to feel too much like clickbait. Like many of the creators I talked to, Gray used the word reporting to describe his work.

“I try my best to fact check as much as humanly possible,” he said.

More and more people, especially young folks, are turning to TikTok as a search engine and source for news. If they want to know what’s up with the sub, they don’t ask Google or go to The New York Times. They ask TikTok and it shows them a video, possibly from Ahren Gray.

Justin Shepherd, 41, a salesperson and content creator in Nashville, has gained more than 75,000 followers since he started posting about the Titan. He’s posted more than 20 TikTok videos and hosted three live streams delving into the minutiae of sonar detection and the Coast Guard’s rescue efforts.

When he started his TikTok account in 2020, he mostly posted about his family. But the account gained traction when he started posting about Gabby Petito’s death in 2021. He’s been leaning into videos summarizing investigations into grisly events ever since, with playlists on his TikTok page entitled “Natalee Holloway,” “Mass Shootings” and “Murdaugh Murders.” Much of the coverage of the Titan sub feels like it has been true crimeified, right down to the creepy piano song creators often use while retelling the stories of violent murders. (IYKYK!)

“A lot of people try to say, you’re an internet sleuth,” Shepherd said. “I’m not a sleuth at all. I take news, I read through all of it, find out what’s true, find out what’s interesting, and I summarize it in a way that’s quick and easy for people to understand.”

He said he checks each piece of information he shares against two news sources before posting (His Titan videos have included screenshots of articles from Rolling Stone, TMZ and CNN.) He tries not to post out-there theories, even though he knows that they might garner him more views.

“There are some really great and reputable creators out there,” he said. “But at the same time, there are people that are going to sensationalize, who are really trying to start rumors or spread misinformation simply for the sake of getting additional clicks, views and follows.”

Shepherd’s last point is the one that makes me most uneasy. The news business has long recognized that tragedy sells. I’m writing about the Titanic sub disaster because it’s newsy — and is the only thing my group chats are talking about right now. But platforms like TikTok reward the wild and outlandish in new and unpredictable ways. (You’ll find no shortage of conspiracy theories about the sub if you seek them out.) And more creators are discovering those incentives with each new tragic event.

We’ve seen this all before and we will see it again. Now at least you can be prepared to spot it as it happens.

Internet Candy

Here’s what else is happening online this week.

• What happens when an influencer is bored with the aesthetic that made her famous?

• What on Earth is going on with Miranda Sings?

• We all want to buy the stuff we see on TikTok, and companies are trying to keep up.

• Meet Barbie’s body double.

• Also, the “Barbie” album just keeps Barbie-ing.

• The lost and found after a Harry Styles concert.

• Ever wonder how vape shops became ubiquitous? (Related: weed bodegas)

• Killer whales are “orcanizing.”

Callie Holtermann contributed reporting.