Influential people who used affiliate links to the Betterhelp app were accused of taking advantage of the mental health of their followers, as they earned a commission for each subscription to therapy services. Most of the videos sponsored by BetterHelp revolve around a creator who talks about his own problems. The online therapy platform BetterHelp has been criticized on TikTok, where patients have described problematic experiences with their therapists. The result of this rigorous process is that only about 15% of therapists who apply to work through BetterHelp are accepted on the platform.
BetterHelp, which offers mental health services directly to the consumer via video, audio, live chat or text message, claims to be the world's largest online therapy platform. Since then, the founder and CEO of BetterHelp, Alon Matas, has used Reddit to defend the name BetterHelp from concerned YouTube followers and numerous customers who have reported terrible experiences using the application. YouTuber Deschroma even posted a seven-minute video detailing her terrible experience with BetterHelp, but added that she couldn't talk about the experience of others. As the controversy continues to grow, YouTube creators talk about their relationship and connection with BetterHelp.
It was described as exploitation and BetterHelp's privacy and regulatory policies were called into question. YouTuber Roberto Blake tweeted about his experience with the app, noting that it was a positive experience and that he never received sponsorship from BetterHelp. I've posted this before, but it's absolutely disgusting that Travis Scott is offering a free month of BetterHelp to people who are likely to suffer from PTSD. However, there is a sense of distrust among the community about the number of BetterHelp ads and sponsorships on YouTube.
BetterHelp has also been criticized for sharing data with Facebook, according to Consumer Reports research, although Matas said that Facebook uses data from other applications at an aggregated level, not individually. More recently, the platform received negative attention when rapper Travis Scott offered a free month of BetterHelp therapy to survivors of the deadly crush at his AstroWorld festival. BetterHelp is a mental health platform that offers online mental health services directly to consumers. The comment sections of BetterHelp ad videos, especially those from creators who don't normally talk about mental health, are full of critical viewers.