Welcome to Information Wasteland, a series about the many ways misinformation is worming its way into our algorithms and minds, wreaking havoc on our culture. Here, style editor Donya Momenian looks at the lack of transparency in beauty influencing as misinformation.
When she was 12, Paloma Sanchez bought an anti-cellulite cream she saw going viral on social media. “In my mind I was like, ‘This is going to fix me,’” she tells Teen Vogue. “And it didn’t do anything. It’s probably a gimmick, and that feeling of, ‘Oh wow, this did not work. What am I doing wrong? I’m not good enough,’ that’s horrible.”
For anyone, but particularly for young people who are navigating changes in their bodies, influencers and beauty brands marketing products that help reinforce strict or unattainable beauty norms can impact self-image in really negative ways. But there’s even more to the story in today’s social media landscape: from fillers to filters, some on social media are using shady practices to sell products.
This might mean an influencer promoting a mascara while not disclosing that they have lash extensions, or selling an expensive skin-care routine but secretly using Facetune to smooth out their look. It could also be claiming one’s glass skin is the result of a cream, when it’s really the product of fillers and facials, or that weight loss is thanks to diet and exercise when GLP-1 drugs are the cause. Now a content creator herself, this is the kind of thing Sanchez wants to pull back the curtain on.
“I’m in a place now where I’m trying to kind of radically accept myself how I am, and I want to share that with my followers as well, knowing that we are in the age of quick fixes, of shots that can help you do whatever these days,” she says. “And I just think at its core, the outcome isn’t always going to be positive. I never want to encourage people to chase a trend or a look.”
It’s part of “the fantasy of being able to own, define, and consume Blackness without consequence.”
To comply with consumer-protection laws, the Federal Trade Commission advises influencers to disclose any personal or financial relationship with brands, taking steps like clearly distinguishing sponsored content from their other posts or noting that they received products for free. Similarly, the FTC states that influencers can’t make claims about a product that the company wouldn’t be able to back with proof. While this is the established legal baseline, that doesn’t mean influencers always comply with the rules.
Dental student and content creator Sunny Poudel called out the lack of transparency on her TikTok as she documented getting skin-care treatments done by professionals. Saying the procedures transformed her skin, she posited that other influencers also get them but don’t provide disclosures to their followers, only to then promote products that they claim had those effects instead.
