You're listening to Disinformed, a mini-series from There Are No Girls on the Internet.

I'm Bridget Todd.

So I usually try to avoid calling out specific bad actors who spread myths and disinformation

because I think of it as a systemic problem.

It isn't usually about one specific person spreading bad information, and I want to make sure

we keep the focus on the people and institutions with power who could actually do something

about it, like tech leaders and policy makers.

But that said, I have someone who I kind of think of as my misinformation white whale that I just

had to talk about today. And that person is Gwyneth Paltrow. So here's what's going down.

Mecca is kind of like Australia's Sephora. It's a huge retailer that sells beauty and wellness

products. But all was not well last week when they announced that Gwyneth Paltrow would be the keynote speaker for their virtual summit, Mecca Life.

Mecca customers were not pleased, and many of them took to social media to let the brand know.

Paltrow and Goop peddle enormous amounts of misinformation and make money by preying on women's insecurities.

Surgeon and author Nikki Stamp wrote on the event's Facebook page.

Every time we endorse this behavior, we allow it to continue.

Mecca has always been a champion for women, so now, when women are at risk,

will you step up to the plate and cancel this terrible event,

or will you let Australian women be further exposed to her nonsense? Mecca is not backing down. Beauty and wellness

mean different things to different people. Our schedule of events to launch Mecca Life has been

carefully curated to offer something new, interesting, and innovative for everyone.

They said in a statement online. Mecca turned off the comments

on their social media posts, which is always how you know stuff that's gotten really tense.

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