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Earlier this month, Demi Lovato announced on social media that they became an official ambassador for Gaia, a streaming platform that is widely considered by many to be a conspiracy hub.
Demi shared the news of their new ambassadorship with a photo on Instagram. “Thrilled to be a Gaia ambassador,” they wrote. “Understanding the world around us (the known and the unknown) is so exciting to me!”
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Called a “Netflix of spirituality” by some of its members, Gaia distributes “conscious media" and initially grew in popularity as a site that offered at-home yoga and meditation classes. Now, it’s also known as a content hub for anti-vaxx misinformation, false claims, and conspiracy theories, — with employees who have allegedly enthusiastically discussed QAnon, according to Business Insider. Gaia also features lots of video content by David Icke — a known conspiracy theorist whose theories have been called antisemitic — who has been de-platformed on major social media sites, meaning he can't advertise or have accounts on them.
In a press release issued by Gaia about Demi’s new role as an ambassador, Demi was apparently selected because of their “fascination” with the site and the “several profound experiences” they had while practicing one of the site’s methods to contact extraterrestrials.
“Continuing down their rabbit hole, Lovato quickly fell in love with Gaia original series ‘Ancient Civilizations’ and ‘Deep Space,’” the press release reads.
Demi has spoken publicly, at length, about their interest in space and aliens, an interest that is on full display in their new Peacock series, Unidentified with Demi Lovato. According to The Daily Beast, Demi’s “handpicked favorite” shows on the site are series that claim the existence of the underwater city of Atlantis and the existence of lizard-people.
However, alongside seemingly harmless “truth-seeking” conspiracy theories such as the existence of aliens are other psuedo-scientific videos that can be classified under the term “conspirituality.” A term first used in 2011, “conspirituality” describes a blend of conspiracy theory and spirituality related to the ideology of wellness. Under the guise of consciousness, vague wellness beliefs, and “natural curiosity,” Gaia’s seemingly high-quality video content can potentially open the doors to a wellness to misinformation pipeline — capitalizing on the “magical thinking” of the wellness community to communicate misinformation about the pandemic, vaccines and medicine, and other conspiracies that threaten public health and democracy.
Demi’s Gaia ambassadorship as a mainstream artist is cause for concern, as their decision to promote a hub of misinformation to millions of followers can be potentially harmful. By gaining promotion and trust from a prominent figure like Demi, misinformation sites like Gaia start to move away from the fringe and into the mainstream, a point that is even addressed in their press release.
“Globally recognized, Lovato brings one of the world's largest social media followings to Gaia's burgeoning network of conscious brand ambassadors,” the release reads. “Gaia believes the fanbase Lovato continues to cultivate has a desire to dig deeper into the more important questions regarding the nature of reality.”
Demi’s partnership with Gaia has sparked outrage from some of their fans, with followers commenting on their announcement with disapproval.
“Look. I believe in exploring who we are and thinking beyond,” one Instagram user wrote. “Please also be mindful that there’s a lot of pseudo-science and poorly researched and supported opinion [sic] on there. If you’re going to be an ambassador for a platform, please also be responsible for informing folks on how to discern between credible work and people bullcrapping them.”
“Please be a responsible ambassador,” they continued. “There is enough harming folks. And a lot is attributed to what has come out and is supported by this site. Please challenge yourself to think critically about everything always and constantly. Just because it sounds true or seems true doesn’t make it so. Feelings aren’t always the reality. And an easy way to get sucked into something is when the truth is sprinkled in pieces across extreme work.”
Representatives for Demi and Gaia did not immediately respond to Teen Vogue's requests for comment.
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