This week’s Popcast examines how artists leverage their power, their fame and the crowdsourced enthusiasm of their fans.

Taylor Swift recently wrote an open letter to her fans, detailing some of the ongoing behind-the-scenes struggles she’s been experiencing with Scooter Braun and Scott Borchetta, the executives who control her back catalog. In it, she asked fans to directly express their support of her and their frustrations with the men; the result was a swarm of social media vitriol aimed at the executives, including the release of their personal information.

This year has also seen a spike in pop stars using social media to push back against music critics: Lana Del Rey and Lizzo both took issue with reviews written about their albums, and complained publicly. Their fans fell in line, swarming the offending writers with hate.

What are the moral responsibilities of performers with huge fan bases in terms of how they wield them?