In March 2019, TikToker Madison (@themadstylistt) got married. Around the same time, TikTok was introduced as the latest social media app, and she hopped on the bandwagon. As a hairstylist, she began posting more and more videos of her work.
She and her husband went on their one-year anniversary trip and came home to everything shut down due to the pandemic. In early 2021, they began arguing more.
She had just started getting into astrology, and every video that popped up on her algorithm had something to do with tarot card readings.
They always said something about how there was a third party in her marriage. At first, she brushed it off as a coincidence, but when the same message continued appearing over and over, the content began to seep into her thoughts.
“I’m not trying to exaggerate,” said Madison. “This went on for months and months, and I thought I was going crazy. I literally thought I was going crazy because even at that time, like I checked his phone, and there was nothing suspicious, nothing weird.”
She had to stop using social media altogether because the videos kept saying her husband was having an affair. Eventually, she cracked and accused him of cheating, even though she had no solid proof.
Then, in October 2021, reality caught up in the most unexpected way. Madison was working at her salon when a girl walked in. She told Madison that she had been having an affair with her husband for over a year.
In that moment, the warnings she had seen online were no longer abstract. They were painfully real. Her TikTok algorithm actually exposed her husband as a cheater.
Despite the betrayal, Madison did not leave him right away. It wasn’t until four years later, when she finally left him, that she was able to get back on TikTok.
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She doesn’t see any more tarot card videos on her feed now.
In the comments section, many people described how TikTok revealed the truth about their own relationships, saving them from a lifetime of misery and despair.
“I was at his house, same spot on the couch I had been for years, then a video on my FYP of a girl, in my clothes, in that exact same spot, came across my FYP. He was, in fact, paying to cheat. Thanks, TikTok,” shared one user.
“Mine was showing me divorce content while my ex was planning ours with his married affair partner. I kept scrolling past like, ‘Why do you think I want a divorce?'” commented another.
“My ‘people you may know’ was all women, and I had no idea who they were. It was women he was texting from dating apps,” added a third.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
