A content creator who says she was fired from her job for being "unprofessional online" has told Newsweek she believes her experience is becoming increasingly common, as more employees find their off-the-clock social media presence colliding with their employer's expectations. Charlotte Blandford Tagg, who has amassed more than 46,000 followers on TikTok, was let go from her position at a small magazine on August 27, after failing her probationary period. The reason given, she said, was straightforward.
Former bosses told her she had been "unprofessional online." "I was working as a content creator for the magazine, and I've been creating content and posting online for around four years," Blandford Tagg, from England, told Newsweek. "I was specifically dismissed for failing my probation, with the reason given being that I had been 'unprofessional online.'" Her case has sparked upset among her followers, resonating with a wider swath of the workforce navigating the blurred line between personal expression and professional obligation. "I think this is becoming increasingly common because people want—and often need—to earn more money than their wages allow," she said.
"Single mothers in particular have huge pressures on them, and those pressures are only increasing." Blandford Tagg's TikTok bio declares that she "likes to overshare," though her content is largely in line with the confessional, slice-of-life style that has become ubiquitous on such platforms. Her most viral video, posted May 13, has racked up more than 1.3 million views. In it, she speaks candidly about an incident of racism connected to her son's primary school, describing how she plans to teach him that people of all ethnic backgrounds deserve equal treatment, in hopes his outlook might ripple outward to other children.
The comments section is overwhelmingly supportive, with viewers on TikTok praising her openness. Still, Blandford Tagg acknowledged that her public account—and the attention it draws—has, at times, created friction. She said the situation leading up to her redundancy was compounded when someone who had been lined up to work for the company for free complained to her manager that Blandford Tagg had failed to respond to them, while apparently still finding time to post TikToks.
"I don't think people should have to give up their lives outside of work simply because they have a job," she said. "People should be allowed to do what they want outside of their 9–5." The backlash to her firing, she said, reflects how deeply social media is now woven into everyday life. "It's fun, it's community, it's a source of income and, in a world where we're constantly getting glimpses into other people's homes and minds, I think we should be entering an era where the person you are at work and the person you are online can be different," she said, adding: "However, I did work for a small-town, small-minded company, so perhaps it shouldn't have come as a huge surprise!
Blandford Tagg kept the name of her former employer private and has since joined No Shame, a PR agency start-up geared toward women who do not necessarily fit conventional notions of professionalism. "I think the word 'professional' has sometimes become another word for 'robot,'" she said. "I don't think you should have to hide your personality or your life to be taken seriously at work." Her situation is playing out against a backdrop of staggering platform reach.
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