Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Tana Mongeau spills on influencer party culture + DrMichaelSays vs. Belle Hassan

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MINI SCROLL: Tana Mongeau spills on influencer party culture + DrMichaelSays vs. Belle Hassan · Mini Scroll

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  Hi everyone, welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet
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  culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories from social
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  media, the creator economy and the digital space every Monday
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  through Thursday. I'm your host, Lauren Meisner,
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  the founder of the youth digital media brand Centennial Worlds.
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  Welcome to Mini Scroll, everyone.
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  All right, I had so much amazing feedback from you guys yesterday
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  when I asked if you wanted a content recap segment of this
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  podcast or like how I should integrate content into it.
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  If you guys wanted me to talk about baby reindeer, Everyone
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  wants me to talk about baby reindeer, which is fair enough
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  because I cannot stop thinking about it and consuming content
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  about it. So what I have decided to do, I
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  am going to do an episode. My Friday episode will be about
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  baby reindeer. So it will be like a recap
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  breakdown. We had done some of those
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  podcasts in the past like breaking down a docu series or
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  whatever. So I'm going to do that on
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  Friday for you guys as the Friday episode.
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  So this is your like 48 hour warning.
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  You need to watch Baby Reindeer if you want to listen to
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  Friday's episode. There will obviously be so many
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  spoilers, but trigger warning, it is a very dark series.
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  It starts off kind of like light and you're kind of like, OK,
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  this is a pretty good show. And then it just gets darker and
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  darker. So I would say maybe Google it,
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  just quickly, try not to get any spoilers, but just like see what
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  the content matter is, if you can handle it.
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  But if you guys think you can and you're interested, watch it
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  all by Friday, 'cause that will be my episode on Friday and I'm
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  interested to see how I go with this new format.
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  I'm not going to script it as much, which I think also will be
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  a good like reprieve from our typical deep dives.
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  It will still be of course, like a deep dive format, but I
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  haven't done one by myself. I'm actually still considering
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  if I'm going to try and get someone to talk with me about
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  it, but if I do it myself, 'cause I literally have like a
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  day to figure it out, so I probably will be doing it
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  myself. So if I do it myself, then it
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  will be interesting to see. It'll be like a little test and
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  learn for me how long I can talk about a series in this new
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  format by myself. Like I said, I won't make it a
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  scripted, so it'll be kind of like a nice little breakup from
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  the deep dives, which obviously are quite scripted and more like
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  video essay style. I think this will be a good way
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  for me to insert some opinion and just like more banter, just
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  similar to like mini scroll butt with a more structured vibe, you
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  know? OK anyways, let's get into the
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  stories for today and reminder no episode tomorrow as tomorrow
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  is a public holiday. So that is 2 Thursdays in a row
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  with no episode. But don't worry next Thursday
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  we'll be right back. OK, so the first day that I have
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  for you guys is that Tana Mojo has said that all of our
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  favorite influencers are on drugs.
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  So on a new episode of the cancelled podcast, Tanna
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  addressed the accusations flying around on TikTok that
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  influencers at Coachella are all on drugs.
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  So if you guys are on TikTok and you were following Coachella
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  content, there was actually a lot of commentary about the fact
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  that like under every single influencer video or photo,
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  there's all these people that's just like flooded with comments
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  of people being like, Oh my God, look at their eyes.
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  They're definitely rolling. They're so fucked up, like
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  whatever. And there's been a lot of people
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  that have responded to this, just regular users who are
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  saying like, why are the comment sections like that?
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  Basically, why are we like this? So it's become more like a topic
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  of conversation this year. And then especially with all the
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  Dixie Demilio stuff that I talked about at the beginning of
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  the week where users were also accusing her of, you know, being
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  on drugs on live stream and all of that.
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  So there's just a lot of conversation right now about
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  like influencers doing drugs and Tana has something to say.
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  So Tana, who is the person that I truly would trust the most to
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  tell us about partying and influencer culture?
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  She says, quote, your favorite influencers are on so many
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  drugs, she said, quote. And like, not one of them, all
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  of them, every single person that I saw as in referring to
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  Coachella, she saw at Coachella like PG, like they were on
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  TikTok with like the biggest brands in these fucking houses.
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  I saw four hours after they were posting like their PC brand deal
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  with their jaw on the motherfucking floor.
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  I'm dead. I mean, I don't see how that is
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  so different than like everybody else that's at Coachella who's
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  around that age. You know, so many of the
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  influencers that we follow and the ones that she's referring to
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  would be in their like early 20s to mid 20s.
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  And that is if you're going to a music festival like your party
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  stage. So I don't see it as so
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  different from the other people that are that age who are at
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  Coachella. And you know, a lot of these
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  influencers when they get famous really young, they don't end up
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  going to college and things like that.
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  And like those are the years where you're like having fun and
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  experimenting, at least for a lot of people.
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  So I don't think that's that wild to say.
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  And I think influencer culture, it's like celebrity culture,
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  right? Like we know that celebrities
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  get like free drugs and their parties are crazy and all of
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  this stuff. And I assume it would be so
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  similar for influencers. Even for me, working in media,
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  running a media company, but even before I ran the company,
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  like just working as a writer in media, going to events
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  constantly, you know, I used to joke about with some of the
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  girls that I knew, like we could be drunk every single day of the
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  week for free if we wanted to be.
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  It's just free flowing everywhere when you're in that
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  industry. So I just think like, it's not
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  surprising to me at all that it's easy to get swept up in
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  that lifestyle. It's easy to say yes when you
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  are surrounded by so much of it as well.
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  So that doesn't surprise me at all.
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  And you know, I trust everything that Tana Mojo says when it
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  comes to influencer culture and partying.
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  So I'm going to trust that. All right, I have one more story
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  for you guys today. This is a bit of a longer one
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  and it's about some pretty niche TikTok beef, which is kind of
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  like the bread and butter of this podcast.
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  So here we go. OK, so Doctor Michael says
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  that's his handle at Doctor Michael says is feuding with
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  influencer Bell Hassan over SPF claims following a Bondi Sands
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  partnership. So Doctor Michael Says is a
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  physician and a TikTok creator who has built a following of
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  over 400,000 for debunking quote bad health advice that is in his
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  bio. Bal Hassan is an influencer and
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  a former Love Island contestant. She is also the daughter of
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  British actor Tamer Hassan and she has over 450,000 followers
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  on TikTok. So earlier this week, Bal posted
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  a TikTok asking for help finding a natural alternative to
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  sunscreen. She said she went down this
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  rabbit hole of researching SPF. And that, quote, SPF is meant to
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  give you cancer. She said that because we eat so
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  many seed oils, and those seed oils are secreted through your
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  pores as you kind of live your life, the combination of SPF and
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  seed oils on your skin when exposed to the sun is, quote,
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  like a matchstick to cancer. And then she went on to say that
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  she is now completely against sunscreen.
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  So I avoid all content related to like natural sunscreen anti
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  SPF stuff. But I know that it's becoming a
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  more common topic of discussion amongst especially like crunchy
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  moms and like crunchy influencers.
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  And if you followed this podcast for a while, you know that we
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  have covered at length the crunchy to alt right pipeline.
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  So it is very much in that conspiracy theory realm.
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  So Doctor Michael who's like whole thing, like I said, is
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  basically debunking medical misinformation that he sees on
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  TikTok. He responded to Bell's video
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  calling out the misinformation that she was spreading and
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  citing the medical evidence. Quote, there's no evidence that
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  seed oils or sunscreen cause skin cancer, but there's plenty
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  of evidence that UV rays from the sun do, He wrote in a
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  caption. So this first video that he
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  posted was taken down by TikTok twice for misinformation.
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  And he basically says that he thinks it's because Bell was
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  reporting his videos. So Doctor Michael made a follow
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  up explaining that TikTok took down his video.
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  And but one of the worst parts of this story actually, in my
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  opinion, is that so Doctor Michael is based in Australia.
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  So it's TikTok Australia that took his video down.
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  For anyone that doesn't know, I have lived in Sydney for eight
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  years. I'm based in Australia as well.
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  And you know, if you've lived in Australia, you would know this
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  too. This son is so strong here.
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  It's like so much stronger than so many other countries in the
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  world. So like sun safety, SPF, it's
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  such, it's so important here, but it's like also such a big
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  topic of conversation. It's like culturally such a big
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  thing here. So the fact that TikTok
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  Australia specifically was the one striking his videos and
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  taking it down when he is basically trying to tell people
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  to wear Spfi just think is honestly one of the worst parts
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  of this story. This ignited basically a back
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  and forth between the two of them.
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  Bell has posted some videos saying that Doctor Michael's
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  videos have caused her to get abused on TikTok and a lot of
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  harassment, which I absolutely believe because that's just how
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  TikTok works unfortunately. She also called him
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  unprofessional and a hypocrite in one video she wrote in her
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  caption. Quote you guys keep backing some
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  guy who likes to insult people instead of educate and beg all
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  of you to follow and share and like his content.
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  But of course no, he's not doing it for views.
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  God no, he's doing it for the greater good.
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  Open your eyes people. Anyways, there has been a lot
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  more, just a lot of back and forth.
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  But then Doctor Michael made a final response showing that Bell
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  had done 2 partnerships with Bondi Sands to promote their SPF
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  range. So one was in 2021 and actually
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  couldn't find where the other one was from.
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  I don't know if it's been taken down.
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  But obviously, like she posted those partnerships before she
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  did her own research, quote UN quote and decided she's against
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  sunscreen. But that was I guess his final
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  response to saying like, she's calling me a hypocrite.
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  Let's take a look at this. So there is a lot that could be
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  said absolutely about doctors and dermatologists and you know,
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  people in the healthcare profession and how they go about
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  trying to educate people on TikTok.
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  I mean, I'm sure that a lot of us can think of different
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  examples where it has not been the nicest response or gone down
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  the best. So I understand that people kind
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  of get their backs up when they hear about like a doctor on
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  TikTok. But in this particular case, for
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  me, the biggest culprit here is TikTok Australia.
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  Belle is going to have her opinion on sunscreen because of
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  the Googling that she did. And if she's not willing to
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  listen to a medical professional about the actually like the
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  evidence and the research about it, OK.
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  But the fact that TikTok has taken down his videos, but her
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  videos are still up and taking them down for misinformation.
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  There needs to be some big overhaul with the moderation
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  going on at TikTok. Like something is very, very
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  wrong there. And that's coming from somebody
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  who TikTok is such a big part of my business and such a big part
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  of this podcast. But things are just not fucking
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  well. Anyways guys, that is it for
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  today. Just a little quick one for you
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  guys. I love you guys.
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  Please remember to rate, review and subscribe.
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  It helps me so much. Please leave a comment, a
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  Spotify comment, whatever. I'm going to be recording the
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  baby reindeer stuff tomorrow. So if you guys have any like
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  suggestions of themes or topics around baby reindeer that you
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  want me to dissect or you want to hear my opinion on also let
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  me know and I will talk to you guys on Friday and then I'll
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  talk to you guys on Monday for mini scroll bye.