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How social media led to fraudulent influential people
Feb
This article contains apple spoilers.
Novel Netflix series Apple cider vinegar He tells the story of influence on the well -being of Belle Gibson, who built true service on social media, documenting her journey to cancer online. But in 2015 Gibson was exposed as a fraud. She never had cancer and He lied about the transfer of funds for charity And ailing children.
The series documents Gibson’s growth and a later fall, presenting some psychological factors that influenced her fraud. But this scandal also illustrates a greater story about conditions that enable cancer fraud, such as Gibson, obtaining credibility and online impact.
2000. They were characterized by “Blogging Revolution” – Changing the way people produced and consumed information. Blogs enabled the creators of the content to share their life and public experiences and directly contact with readers. Niche communities arose around common interests, from health to a broken heart.
Gibson used this trend, creating a blog entitled The Whole Pantry, in which she documented her alleged journey, fighting with a occasional form of terminal brain cancer. She claimed that she decided to reject conventional cancer treatment on her blog.
Instead, Gibson expressed that she was authorized to treat herself naturally through nutrition, determination and love – as well as alternative medicine, including Ayurvedic treatment, skull therapy, oxygen therapy and colonics.
The blog was developed in the application in 2013 and book In 2014 – with the history of Gibson she is legitimized by a reputable publisher and brandsThen, driven by its presence on social media.
The basic platform of Gibson’s communication was Instagram. She used photographic and video sharing application to build and cooperate with observers through inspiring quotes, personal anecdotes and suggestive photos. Lifestyle and people affecting health usually gain trust and intimacy, presenting themselves as authentic, available – and autonomous from state and corporate interests.
Quote from Gibson’s book, also called The whole pantryIt contains the way she performed this strategy to refer to the observers online. She wrote: “Too many people excessively edit. There is not enough honesty. The disease is a disease, ask questions, look for answers … Never improve yourself in a way that takes your heart, message and the real me. “
This character allowed Gibson not only to achieve fame online, but also to establish a relationship of parasites with her followers by distancing from the medical institution, seemingly related and unfirmed in its exchange with observers.
The mass media have long been considered to facilitate parasite relationships: Emotional and imagined ties, which, despite the feeling of real, are usually one -dimensional and one -sided. Original parasite relations were created with media characters, such as information anchors, radio hosts, film stars and pop stars.
Today, content creators In social media they are the main influential people. Although these relationships are usually one -sided, they can still Feel intimate And real.
The role of the biological renewal industry
After the scandal, people were looking for whom to blame. The fingers were indicated for the press for Gibson glamouring, as well publisher and other companies that could not be checked by Gibson’s claims.
Criticism was also addressed to the biological renewal industry Rhodiuming in disinformation and pseudoscience.
It is assumed that Wellness is mainly a female chase – and the Netflix series follows several influential women who built brands around their illness and diseases.
In fact sexual dimensions of well -being They are more complicated. Primary founders Biological renewal movement They were men. Although many fought for the creation of well -being, they were more and more often touched in the women’s market, many of whom I felt rightly unheard of and omitted by healthcare professionals.
There is an irony that Gibson’s wellness brand has passed at Instagram “Healing_BELLE”. Part of the success of today’s biological renewal industry comes from promising wonderful medicines and remedies for various forms of illness and diseases. Many Influential wellness I built the successful brands, creating health and well -being.
It is far from The origin of movement And a more positive concept of health they tried to determine – which were to act in combination with medicine, not medicine, not against this.
Gibson gained fame in The atmosphere of low institutional trustwhere her vibrant experience was valued on institutional knowledge. Similar to many Influence on AltkoHer suspicion of conventional medicine caused controversial claims on vaccinations and benefits Gerson therapy – a scheme that Cancel theorems Through a special diet, supplements and enemas – and raw milk.
It was by documenting the negative side effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy in Her book The fact that Gibson was able to present her lifestyle and experienced experience as a hopeful alternative path to healing.
After she was convicted of misleading and disingenuous proceedings in 2017 and ordered by the Federal Court of Australia Pay a fine of $ 410,000 ($ 206,000), you can expect a decrease in cancer fraud, taking into account Global publicity This scandal attracted.
Instead, others loud cases content creators Shipping cancer disinformation on short video platforms They appeared at an alarming pace – often using social media to earn on false features of miracles, from the kernel of apricot to SourSop tea.
Compact video platforms, such as Tiktok, Instagram and Shorts YouTube, changed the dynamics of fame. Algorithms They are crucial for user experiences in these applications, which allows relatively unknown content creators to gain visibility and online attention.
While Gibson has spent years of cultivating the following online, today the creator of the content with only a handful of followers can send the engaging film and achieve millions of views.
Technologies have changed, but there is an industry of content creators who derive profits from misleading and harmful advice. . The frequency of online cancer disinformation He emphasizes that the problem works much deeper than in the case of Gibson, as Apple Cider said in vinegar.
