ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Guilt by association

Guilt by association means something bad can happen to you if you are associated with someone else who has done something bad. For example, if your friend does something wrong and a lot of people find out about it, maybe you will get a bad reputation even if you didn't do anything wrong. It doesn't mean you did something bad, but people may think that since you know the person who did something wrong, you must also be bad.