pile-on

plural pile-ons

1. An argument or fight in which one side is greatly advantaged by being more numerous or more closely allied than the other side.

   Online, there’s a level of industrial-scale bullying directed at Heard that puts all previous social media pile-ons to shame.

   2022 May 18, Michelle Goldberg, “Amber Heard and the Death of #MeToo”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

   3 more examples

   We are in a time of never-ending Twitter pile-ons. Sometimes the criticism is warranted: Twitter can be a place for marginalised voices to amplify or bring attention to an injustice they have suffered.

   2019 November 19, Brigid Delaney, “It's the era of the Twitter pile-on. Isn't there something healthier we can do with our rage?”, in The Guardian

   A social media “pile-on” against anyone who criticises Sinn Féin does not aid or assist the party, its housing spokesman has said.

   2020 December 6, Marie O'Halloran, “Social media ‘pile on’ against Sinn Féin critics does not aid party, Ó Broin says”, in The Irish Times

   Muzzling Kelly also elevates a semi-professional obscurantist to the status of free speech martyr, and that invites a cacophonous pile-on from the rightwing bobble heads who screech about the left’s obsession with identity politics while shovelling identity politics at their audiences.

   2021 February 2, Katharine Murphy, “Scott Morrison must heed the lesson of Donald Trump and slap down Craig Kelly”, in The Guardian