Phantom Dancer

11 years ago, a 16-year-old kid was bagging groceries at a supermarket when a customer took his photo without him knowing and posted it online. Alex Lee started his shift on 2 November 2014 with 144 Twitter followers. By the time his mum picked him up from work that evening, he had 100,000. By the next morning, 300,000. His phone number was leaked and the notifications crashed it completely. Within days, #AlexFromTarget was the number one trending topic on the platform. Girls showed up at his store in groups. A man offered his co-workers a hundred dollars to find out where he was. His manager moved him to the stockroom to finish his shift. His family’s personal and financial records were leaked online. His girlfriend, who he’d met in chemistry class two weeks earlier, started receiving threats from strangers. He appeared on Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show, was flown across the country for appearances, and eventually had to leave school because of it all. The day he turned 18 he moved cities to try to build a career in social media. He hated it. One manager took control of his accounts. Another allegedly stole over $30,000 from him. He fired them both and quit the internet entirely. He’s 27 now. Lives with his girlfriend, loads trucks at a delivery depot in the mornings, and has no public social media presence. In 2024 he said the job pays less but he’s a lot happier. “I never wanted to be ‘Alex from Target.’ Absolutely not.”