Why you should watch Apple Cider Vinegar with your teens

You might think internet sleuths would make it hard for someone like Belle Gibson to exist today. This trend proves that isn't true.

Posting on social media is one of the easiest things you can do in 2025.

Of course, it can be a good thing. Social media can help people grow their small businesses. It can encourage people to find or join a community of others just like them. And, it can bring positive messaging or advice directly to the people who need it.

But, those same things are the reasons why it’s so dangerous.

Apple Cider Vinegar, the new Netflix series inspired by convicted scammer and pseudoscience advocate Belle Gibson, showcases the dangers of social media in a way that little media has attempted to before.

Now that Belle’s story is approaching a decade old, it would be easy to believe that it could never happen again. However, scam influencers - whether they mean harm or not - continue to be rampant on all social media platforms, meaning there’s been no better time to have that conversation with your teen.

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Image: Netflix.

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Instagram doesn’t ask for proof

If you’re not familiar with her, Belle Gibson is a now-disgraced former wellness influencer, who, back in the early 2010s, made a living off of sharing her inspirational story - using organic food to heal her brain cancer.

But, the problem is, she never had brain cancer - she wasn’t sick at all.

Over the years, Belle’s lies built her a platform of millions who clung onto every glimmer of hope in her words, following along with her journey and even ditching their own treatments to take up her baseless methods instead, putting their health at risk without a second thought.

Eventually, she would be exposed for fraud not only in her diagnosis and ‘miracle cures’, but also for her lack of donations to charities who she claimed she was supporting regularly.

Unsurprisingly, people were shocked at this, wondering how it was possible for her to maintain this persona for so long. But, in hindsight, it wouldn’t have been hard given she was never really questioned.

At the end of the day, you can say whatever you like on social media, and if you seem confident and trustworthy enough, people will believe you. It’s not like Instagram asks for proof.

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There’s one more secret I have to share…

Back when Belle was one of Australia’s biggest influencers, Instagram was brand new. You might assume that back then, people were more gullible, and wouldn’t bother asking questions.

It’s now been 10 years, so things must have changed, right?

Social media is now a much larger part of everyone’s everyday lives. For most, staring at your phone is probably the first thing you do in the morning and the last thing you do at night.

With the sheer amount of content you’re consuming day after day, you don’t always have the time or care factor to probe further. To investigate whether something is really true. But, maybe you should.

On January 19, 2025, TikTok was set to be banned in the USA. As a result of this, a number of popular creators took to the app to share some truths about their content.

The trend used an audio clip from Family Guy, with Peter Griffin saying, ‘Since we’re all gonna die, there’s one more secret I feel I have to share with you’.

Some of these revelations were completely harmless, with one creator who rose to fame making aesthetically pleasing ice cubes saying that she never really used them. A few who made content around going to get coffee said they never really liked it that much, or didn’t drink it at all.

But, many were more dangerous.

Fitness influencers in particular were under the pump after revealing that they never actually did the work-out routines they recommended to others. Some said that the bodies they credited to these work-outs were actually thanks to plastic surgery and BBLs - a shocking discovery to those who followed their routines religiously, and trusted their knowledge.

As we all know, the TikTok ban ended fairly quickly, and many of these individuals were forced to apologise to their followers. However, in the long term, they’ve faced no real consequences, and have probably gained the attention of even more people who wouldn’t know any better.

Treat it as a lesson

These allegations are nowhere near as severe and dangerous as those of Belle Gibson, however if nothing else, they’re proof that someone like Belle could slip through the cracks much easier than you might think.

Instagram and TikTok in particular have become a more casual way of sharing your life, with people posting honest stories day after day. But, it’s because of this that we’ve become almost too conditioned to trust the information that’s put in front of us.

AI features are embedded into almost every social media platform, providing information on topics and answering all kinds of questions for you without even having to open Google - making the necessity of further research dangerously redundant. People can message you just about anywhere, asking for seemingly harmless information which you’d never know would be the start of a scam.

We've even seen examples of people just like Belle firsthand recently, after an Aussie mumfluencer was charged by police just last month after allegedly drugging her one-year-old child to gain followers online.

I’m not saying you need to sit down and watch Apple Cider Vinegar with your teen in its entirety. There are a few spicy scenes and references to drugs and medical procedures that, depending on the age and maturity level of your child, they may not be ready for.

But, it should be a conversation starter about the prevalence of misinformation.

A lesson on just how easy it is for someone to get caught up in the lies of another, and how important it is to seek information from a reliable source instead of trusting someone on social media who, despite thinking you might, you truly know nothing about.

Originally published as Why you should watch Apple Cider Vinegar with your teens