Sure, everyone is addicted to social media to some extent. Still, it’s also abundantly clear that it can be toxic AF—and not just because it’s all too easy for nefarious tech bros to monitor and manipulate everything from our spending habits to our political convictions to indulge their autocratic fantasies of dystopian world domination.
There’s also our collective mental health to consider.
Countless studies have shown that too much time spent scrolling online can lead to increased levels of depression and anxiety as we compare our (messy, flawed) real lives to the (impossibly shiny, seemingly perfect) digital facade constructed by friends, acquaintances, celebrities, and complete strangers.
And the dangers don’t stop there.
Having a tiny device on our person at all times that allows us to watch and be watched by virtually anyone in the world has left us uniquely susceptible to outside influence—so much so that “influencers” have become perhaps the most, well, influential people on the entire planet, outpacing artists, politicians, religious leaders, and actual experts.
Who needs facts when you have followers?
Unfortunately—and inevitably—all those likes, subscribes, and shares have laid the groundwork for some truly heinous crimes IRL.
Here are eight of the most disturbing influencer true crime documentaries:
Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke (2025)
Franke was a notorious Mormon mommy vlogger and mother of six (!) who amassed millions of subscribers and billions of views on her YouTube channel 8 Passengers, which gave viewers a peek into the seemingly wholesome shenanigans of her large family.
But behind the scenes, allegations of child abuse swirled, culminating in Ruby’s dramatic arrest after one of her children escaped through a window and asked a neighbor for help.
The Search for Instagram's Worst Con Artist (2023)
Belle Gibson made a name for herself on Instagram by sharing her cancer journey with hundreds of thousands of followers.
Rather than relying on traditional methods of treatment like chemotherapy or radiation, Gibson claimed that she beat the deadly disease with a combination of diet, exercise, and overall clean living, creating a popular app and cookbook in the process.
The only problem? Gibson was eventually forced to admit that she’d never had cancer in the first place.
Scamanda (2025)
Faking cancer is so evil that you may think few would have the gall—not to mention a complete lack of empathy—to do something so utterly dark.
Unfortunately, you would be wrong.
Bay Area wife and mom Amanda C. Riley, like Belle Gibson, also fabricated her cancer journey, meticulously documenting her imaginary medical procedures on a popular blog and accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from her church and community before a former friend called in an anonymous tip to the media.
Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult (2024)
TikTok dance videos have gone far beyond something silly slapped together by kids in their bedrooms.
Companies like 7M Films, a talent management firm owned by a pastor, recruit minors who just want an opportunity to perform and—according to former clients—exploit and control them using tactics that would be familiar to any cult leader, including isolating them from their families and restricting their access to their own finances.
Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing (2025)
Anyone over the age of, oh, twelve, is unlikely to know much about the world of kid influencers—but it’s an enormous, lucrative, and potentially deeply destructive phenomenon that encourages minors to put their most personal, intimate, emotionally fraught moments (think mean-spirited pranks or first kisses) online for public consumption.
This series focuses on tweens recruited to perform in YouTube videos alongside “kidfluencer” Piper Rockelle—i.e., “the Squad”—and the deeply toxic environment of emotional, financial, and sexual exploitation that they allege surrounds the creation of her content.
Deadly Influence: The Social Media Murders (2024)
If you’re ready to go someplace even darker than cancer scams, child abuse, and callous exploitation for profit, Deadly Influence offers six episodes detailing murders with some connection to social media.
Featuring real crime scene footage and interviews with grief-stricken family members, be forewarned that this is a harrowing—albeit engrossing—watch.
Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God (2023)
On the surface, it sounds like a standard religious cult docuseries.
Amy Carlson, known to her followers as Mother God, founded the religious movement Love Has Won—combining aspects of New Age spiritualism, mainstream religions, and QAnon-adjacent conspiracy theories—and lived on a small commune with her followers.
But the Internet looms large for Carlson’s devotees; at their peak, the group live-streamed daily and peddled a number of wares in their online store, including colloidal silver, a potentially toxic substance often marketed as a cure-all for any number of maladies.
Desperately Seeking Soulmate: Escaping Twin Flames Universe & Escaping Twin Flames (both 2023)
A perfect “twin flames” double feature, these dual examinations of Twin Flames Universe look at how far people will go for love—and how that very human need for connection can lead to some incredibly twisted situations.
Jeff and Shaleia Divine are accused by former followers of everything from coercing them into arranged marriages to manipulating their gender identities to create “perfect” male/female pairings.
If you think finding love on the apps is hard, let these documentaries serve as a reminder. It can always be worse!
Featured still from "Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke" via Hulu
