The recent Netflix documentary series Escaping Twin Flames depicts how, behind Jeff and Shaleia Divine’s successful coaching business, there lies a community with all the classic characteristics of cults: manipulation, authoritarianism, deep suspicions, and misconceptions of the outside world.
Jeff and Shaleia sell an ideal that everyone has a soulmate, or ‘twin flame’, meant for them. Once you are reunited with your twin flame; all your problems will be resolved. The pair offer expensive coaching classes that are supposed to lead the mentee to find their twin flame and “perfect harmony”. The documentary unveils dark tales of deep manipulation, suicide, and jail time. Despite Netflix’s exposure of the harm Twin Flames Universe (TFU) is inflicting, the cult continues to operate.
Cults, lockdown angst and stranger danger
There have been an increasing number of cults in the past decades. In America alone, the number of cults has doubled since 1993 (5,000 to 10,000 in 2023). It is no secret that the pandemic left people alone and in distress, with social media as an easy means of human contact. And an individual in anguish is particularly vulnerable to online cults. These groups’ longstanding main attraction, dating back to pre-internet times, is the socialisation it gives people when they are suffering. Indeed, isolating individuals from others and the fear of being an outcast from the group is at the crux of a successful cult.
Social media is a great tool for cults to grow. In the case of TFU, a vulnerable person will be in their bedroom scrolling through their feed and come across a video from Jeff and Shaleia describing how, through their courses, you can find your person, and how this will solve all your life problems. A few clicks later, you are on a Zoom call with people you have never met before, but crucially feeling part of a community
This experience of proximity with like-minded people not only enables a cult to grow but also to maintain its power. The threats and manipulation feel very close when they are flashing up on your laptop, even if they come from someone in another country.
Social media: The digital town square
Social media has long been compared to a ‘digital town square’, where every man and his dog are shouting their opinions. Social media certainly has positive elements, and it offers the freedom to spread your voice and opinions. Unfortunately, beneath this is a melting pot of fake news, increasing deepfakes, and anonymous bullies, combined with programmed echo chambers of content that significantly narrow down what social media users are exposed to. Indeed, for certain individuals, social media gives them power and freedom to control the minds of others.
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By GlobalDataSocial media is relatively new territory and is ever-changing. Consequently, the law is not up to date. According to GlobalData, there is an emerging consensus that governments should hold social media companies responsible for the content they publish and the posts they allow to remain online, which encourage anti-social and criminal behaviour.
While it is true that social media companies are under significant pressure to address the vast amount of harmful material on their platforms, so-called exponents of free speech—not least X owner Elon Musk—say that governments should butt out.
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