She had just lost 40 pounds, and for the first time in a long time, she felt proud of herself.
Her husband was proud too. He encouraged her to share her progress online.
So she posted a video. She never imagined what would happen next.
A Proud Moment, Posted Online
Her name is Kahri Salyars. She is 28 years old and lives in King George, Virginia.
She was just starting her weight loss journey when she decided to post about it on TikTok, CBS News reported.
“I liked how I looked,” she told CBS News, describing how she felt after losing those first 40 pounds.
“I liked how happy I genuinely looked.”
The video went up in March. It was supposed to be a happy little milestone.
Instead, it turned into a nightmare.
Then the Hate Came Pouring In
“Then like overnight, hundreds of hate comments,” Salyars said.
Strangers she had never met lined up to tear her down, one comment after another.
“… ‘You’re really ugly, you’re fat, your husband deserves better.’ It just kept going,” she recalled.
It did not stop after a day or two. For a full month, people kept piling on with hundreds of insults.
Anyone who has read cruel words about themselves knows how hard it is to look away.
And Kahri could not stop reading them.
Then, one day, something strange started to happen.
The Day Everything Changed
The mean comments began to disappear under a flood of kind ones.
Message after message told her she looked beautiful, strong and happy.
“It was weird because, where are all these really nice people coming from?” she asked.
The shift was so sudden that it felt almost organized.
It was as if an army of strangers had rushed in to defend her.
That is exactly what had happened.
Meet the Man Behind the Kindness
Tyler Brickley lives in Kansas City, Missouri. He runs a group called “The Kindness Mob.”
It has about half a million members, according to CBS News. And it fights online cruelty in secret.
“We make every effort for them to never find out,” Brickley said.
Here is how it works. First, the group picks someone who is being bullied online.
Then, thousands of members show up in that person’s comments and shower them with compliments.
The goal is simple, Brickley explained: to make the internet seem kind.
“It feels outrageous, but that’s exactly what we’re trying to do,” he told CBS News.
“And it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever been a part of.”
How It All Started
The idea came to him on New Year’s Day in 2023, he told BBC Future.
He had noticed how easily people pile onto hateful comments once a few mean ones appear.
“I thought, what if I start a channel where I get 10 people in a little club, and we flood the comments with positivity to tip the scales?” he said.
Ten people was the plan. The group grew far bigger than that.
Since 2023, Brickley and his Kindness Mob have digitally rescued about 400 strangers like Salyars, CBS News reported.
Every day, followers nominate anywhere from 20 to 100 people who need help, BBC Future reported.
But he posts only one mob a day. He chooses one person, and the mob goes to work.
“We’re not the point of the story,” he told BBC Future.
“The point is to remove the distraction, to get all these hateful comments out of the way so the person’s content can shine through.”
Lives Changed by Strangers
Kahri is not the only one whose life changed.
Laura Tigeleiro, of Staten Island, New York, has multiple sclerosis, which made one of her eyes droop sideways, BBC Future reported.
“Everyone was making fun of my eye,” she said.
Then the mob found her. One of her videos received more than 15,000 friendly comments.
“I didn’t know what was going on. I was shocked,” she said.
She gained so many new followers that TikTok started paying her. She said she earned enough to buy her family a much-needed new car.
“I dreamed of a better life, and Tyler gave me that chance,” she said.
Renee Penick, a grandmother from Ohio, said the mob arrived while she was at her husband’s hospital bed. It gave her strength in a crisis.
And a musician from upstate New York told BBC Future the mob brought her so many new fans that she was about to go on tour.
The Kindness Came Back to Him
Running the group is not easy, and it is not about money.
Brickley told BBC Future that in one month, he made just $39 from it.
At one point, the emotional weight became so heavy that he had to take a few months off.
Then, after he had back surgery, his wife quietly posted a TikTok from outside his hospital room.
When he woke up, he checked his phone. This time, the mob was there for him.
“There were like 1,000 comments. I was reading through them, just sobbing. Ugly crying,” Brickley said.
“I just realised this is real. It can really help.”
‘Positivity Overtook the Hate’
Salyars eventually figured out that Brickley was behind the sudden wave of kindness.
But by then, it did not really matter who had sent it.
Asked if her confidence was back, she answered simply. “I would say so,” she said.
“Positivity overtook the hate.”
For Brickley, moments like that are the whole reason he keeps going, even on the hard days.
“It feels like a calling,” he told BBC Future.
“But kindness, for everyone, always, feels like a good place to start.”
So the next time you see someone being torn apart in the comments, remember Kahri.
One kind message might be the first of thousands.
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