Marie Mills 
Freelance
Confessions, deception, and the chaos of TikTok’s near shutdown.
Influencers have revealed what they lied about to gain millions of fans and build their careers on TikTok before the platform was banned in the United States. Now that the app is back online, it’s time for damage control.
It seems like the end of the world as you know it is the perfect moment to finally confess your deepest, darkest secrets. That’s exactly what U.S. influencers did this weekend on TikTok, facing the possibility of never seeing their followers again.
“I never actually drank the coffee I made during my ‘coffee talks,’” admitted Lexi Hidalgo, who has 2.7 million followers. “And I only did half of the workouts I posted.”
The confession was quite shocking, considering the yoga instructor and influencer built her fame on her “coffee talk” videos. But she was just one of thousands of TikTokers who admitted that some of their most popular videos were fake, less than 24 hours before the app, owned by a Chinese company, was shut down for U.S. users on Sunday.
Some fitness influencers admitted that their toned glutes were the result of a Brazilian butt lift, not their workout videos. Others revealed that their comedy sketches were staged.
One TikToker, @kaelimaee, who became famous for creating elaborate and colorful ice cubes filled with fruit and flowers, confessed that she never actually used them. Meanwhile, Meredith Duxbury, who went viral for her makeup routines where she applied ten drops of foundation to her face, admitted that sometimes she wiped it off right after. However, she captioned her video with: “Or maybe I didn’t?”
Everyone was jumping on the latest trend, sharing their lies to the soundtrack of Family Guy’s Peter Griffin saying, “Since we’re all going to die, there’s another secret I feel I have to share with you.”
But then, the newly elected U.S. president stepped in to save TikTok—at least for now—leaving influencers, who had just confessed to an army of angry fans, scrambling to walk back their admissions.
Hell Hath No Fury Like an Outraged TikTok Follower
TikTok users were furious about being deceived. Ashley Robbins wrote on the platform that people should think twice before following influencers who had just exposed “the bullshit they pulled to get you to follow them and fall in love with them.”
“Let this be a lesson to the wise—you should examine the integrity of these people before putting them on a pedestal, inflating their egos, and then realizing they’ve been monetizing lies and deceiving you for years.”
Another user posted a video calling the trend “disgusting.”
“The number of influencers coming forward saying, ‘Oh, I never actually did those workouts I told you to do’ or ‘I never even liked coffee, I just forced myself to drink it for the videos,’ etc. So many influencers have just admitted to profiting off society’s insecurities and think that’s okay,” shared @elissaleanne in a series of videos.
Since posting her confession, Hidalgo has backtracked and even apologized for hurting her fans’ feelings.
“I did do the workouts. Just not when I posted them. I was a kid on a brand-new app. I didn’t really know what I was doing,” she explained in a follow-up video. Hidalgo did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
Forget Damage Control—“Go for More Dirt, More Shock, More Outrage,” Says Expert
Hidalgo isn’t the only influencer regretting their trend-hopping confessions and quickly posting retractions. But she shouldn’t worry, says Ben Alalouff, chief strategy officer at Live & Breathe. The marketing agency has worked with major UK retailers like Morrisons, Real Techniques, and World Duty Free to launch branded campaigns and social content.
According to Alalouff, the influencers’ controversial confessions will make their careers, not break them.
“I think it was probably a calculated bet that TikTok would survive the U.S. government flip-flopping, and it paid off massively: we’re all obsessed with the murky details of other people’s lives,” he told Fortune.
“We crave other people’s experiences,” he added, suggesting that influencers won’t even need to regain their followers’ trust, since their latest controversial videos will keep their faces on the feed of potential new fans.
“The more sordid, shocking, and outrageous the revelation, the longer the almighty algorithm will push their content,” he said. “It’s not about rebuilding trust—it’s about keeping views high, and that doesn’t necessarily mean protecting a ‘good’ virtue like honesty.”
His advice to influencers (or brands) looking to do damage control?
“Forget about trust. Go for more dirt, more shock, more outrage. And maybe—just maybe—plan a small redemption arc later this year.”
Influencers have revealed what they lied about to gain millions of fans and build their careers on TikTok before the platform was banned in the United States. Now that the app is back online, it’s time for damage control.
It seems like the end of the world as you know it is the perfect moment to finally confess your deepest, darkest secrets. That’s exactly what U.S. influencers did this weekend on TikTok, facing the possibility of never seeing their followers again.
“I never actually drank the coffee I made during my ‘coffee talks,’” admitted Lexi Hidalgo, who has 2.7 million followers. “And I only did half of the workouts I posted.”
The confession was quite shocking, considering the yoga instructor and influencer built her fame on her “coffee talk” videos. But she was just one of thousands of TikTokers who admitted that some of their most popular videos were fake, less than 24 hours before the app, owned by a Chinese company, was shut down for U.S. users on Sunday.
Some fitness influencers admitted that their toned glutes were the result of a Brazilian butt lift, not their workout videos. Others revealed that their comedy sketches were staged.
One TikToker, @kaelimaee, who became famous for creating elaborate and colorful ice cubes filled with fruit and flowers, confessed that she never actually used them. Meanwhile, Meredith Duxbury, who went viral for her makeup routines where she applied ten drops of foundation to her face, admitted that sometimes she wiped it off right after. However, she captioned her video with: “Or maybe I didn’t?”
Everyone was jumping on the latest trend, sharing their lies to the soundtrack of Family Guy’s Peter Griffin saying, “Since we’re all going to die, there’s another secret I feel I have to share with you.”
But then, the newly elected U.S. president stepped in to save TikTok—at least for now—leaving influencers, who had just confessed to an army of angry fans, scrambling to walk back their admissions.
Hell Hath No Fury Like an Outraged TikTok Follower
TikTok users were furious about being deceived. Ashley Robbins wrote on the platform that people should think twice before following influencers who had just exposed “the bullshit they pulled to get you to follow them and fall in love with them.”
“Let this be a lesson to the wise—you should examine the integrity of these people before putting them on a pedestal, inflating their egos, and then realizing they’ve been monetizing lies and deceiving you for years.”
Another user posted a video calling the trend “disgusting.”
“The number of influencers coming forward saying, ‘Oh, I never actually did those workouts I told you to do’ or ‘I never even liked coffee, I just forced myself to drink it for the videos,’ etc. So many influencers have just admitted to profiting off society’s insecurities and think that’s okay,” shared @elissaleanne in a series of videos.
Since posting her confession, Hidalgo has backtracked and even apologized for hurting her fans’ feelings.
“I did do the workouts. Just not when I posted them. I was a kid on a brand-new app. I didn’t really know what I was doing,” she explained in a follow-up video. Hidalgo did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
Forget Damage Control—“Go for More Dirt, More Shock, More Outrage,” Says Expert
Hidalgo isn’t the only influencer regretting their trend-hopping confessions and quickly posting retractions. But she shouldn’t worry, says Ben Alalouff, chief strategy officer at Live & Breathe. The marketing agency has worked with major UK retailers like Morrisons, Real Techniques, and World Duty Free to launch branded campaigns and social content.
According to Alalouff, the influencers’ controversial confessions will make their careers, not break them.
“I think it was probably a calculated bet that TikTok would survive the U.S. government flip-flopping, and it paid off massively: we’re all obsessed with the murky details of other people’s lives,” he told Fortune.
“We crave other people’s experiences,” he added, suggesting that influencers won’t even need to regain their followers’ trust, since their latest controversial videos will keep their faces on the feed of potential new fans.
“The more sordid, shocking, and outrageous the revelation, the longer the almighty algorithm will push their content,” he said. “It’s not about rebuilding trust—it’s about keeping views high, and that doesn’t necessarily mean protecting a ‘good’ virtue like honesty.”
His advice to influencers (or brands) looking to do damage control?
“Forget about trust. Go for more dirt, more shock, more outrage. And maybe—just maybe—plan a small redemption arc later this year.”
