A wellness coach claims she can fix people’s vision. An anti-misinformation TikToker isn’t having it.

A wellness influencer and misinformation warrior are at odds, sparking new discourse on old tropes like snake oil, multi-level marketing grifts, and whom to trust when it comes to receiving medical advice.

Earlier this month, Samantha Lotus — a Canadian holistic coach with nearly 30,000 Instagram followers — declared that she could teach people to fix their bad eyesight for the low, low price of attending her $11 webinar.

Ophthalmology professionals deny ways to cure bad vision aside from wearing glasses or contacts, undergoing corrective surgery, or using medicated prescription drops.

Still, last Saturday, Lotus hosted a webinar for what she said was a virtual crowd of more than 400 attendees. One of those attendees was @mallorysthoughts, a popular TikToker who uses her social media platforms to debunk wellness misinformation and conspiracy theories.

In a TikTok viewed over 2 million times, Mallory — who doesn’t use her last name on her public accounts — broke down Lotus’ hours-long webinar, which she says was largely a testimonial for doTERRA Essential Oils products, which Lotus is a rep for, making unfounded claims that the products can strengthen eyes. Lotus said on social media that that’s a misrepresentation.

Mallory called Lotus’ webinar a “trojan horse” to sell the essential oil products.

Mallory declined to comment, citing threats of legal action from Lotus.

After being prompted by Mallory and her followers on X (formerly Twitter), doTERRA said its compliance team was reviewing Lotus’ marketing of the company’s products.

“doTERRA is committed to training its distributors and monitoring claims made to existing and potential customers to ensure that they comply with what the law allows us to say about the health benefits of our products,” the company said. “While our products can be used to promote a healthier lifestyle and achieve certain wellness benefits, they cannot be used or marketed as capable of preventing, treating, or curing any disease or symptoms associated with a disease.”

Lotus said she is making corrections to comply with doTerra and was removing essential oil references from her vision presentation.

In an email to The Daily Beast, Lotus said she understands the skepticism but said her aim is to teach people “self-healing” and “spiritual” methods. She added that “critics and hate mail” have “come flooding in.”

On Instagram, Lotus said Monday that she was a victim of “cancel culture” and “mob mentality.” But critics pointed to a series of screenshots Mallory posted of Lotus threatening legal action against the TikToker, calling it hypocritical.

“I know who I am and what my intentions are, thus the comments and media frenzy isn’t phasing me,” Lotus told The Inquirer in an email Tuesday evening.

This is certainly not the first time someone has peddled a questionable health claim to the masses.

Snake oils date back to the 1800s — and saw a new wave in 2021 when the internet’s favorite scammer, Caroline Calloway, sold her own version with that name.

Registered dietitian and health journalist Christy Harrison says people don’t fall for false claims because of gullibility, but rather, wishful thinking. The author of The Wellness Trap: Break Free From Diet Culture, Disinformation, and Dubious Diagnoses, and Find Your True Well-Being added that online claims are often driven by a desire for virality.

“The types of content that drive the most engagement tend to include novelty, incite controversy, and provoke moral outrage — and misinformation hits all those notes, which is why we see so many influencers going viral with totally out-there and non-evidence-based claims about health and wellness,” Harrison told The Inquirer.

Harrison said it’s important to be skeptical of any influencer who makes claims that turn conventional medical and scientific wisdom on its head. She also advises being weary of re-posting questionable information — even for the purpose of critiquing it — because, like in this case, it could make the original content become even more viral.

And in the rise of Instagram and TikTok, wellness influencers have pushed the latest diet supplements, must-have waist-snatchers, and other miracle cures upon their millions of impressionable followers.

Earlier this year, fitness influencer Brittany Dawn and the state of Texas settled a lawsuit over her fitness business and its practices. The court case went on for years, raising questions about influencer accountability and obligations to their followers.

» READ MORE: Influencer Brittany Dawn has settled with Texas in the state’s lawsuit. Here’s what you need to know about the case.

“Like other industries, this one [wellness] is subject to the demands of capitalism, in which every product or service needs to be constantly better or more unique than all others,” Derek Beres, the co-author of Conspirituality: How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Health Threat and co-host of the podcast Conspirituality, told The Inquirer. “To stand out from the crowd, you find reps like Samantha Lotus offering completely impossible health claims — such as an oil that will help you not need glasses.”

Beres added that too often, wellness influencers don’t care about efficacy and will use a niche to exploit their audience.

“The problem is that anyone with even an iota of scientific understanding knows an essential oil is not going to let you stop needing eyeglasses,” he said. “And so now she’s paying the price for her misinformation, and her only response is that she’s ‘being canceled.’ In truth, she’s just being called out for grifting a vulnerable audience.”