Disgraced blogger may be forced to publicly apologise

Wellness blogger Belle Gibson lied about having cancer. Photo / Facebook

Disgraced blogger Belle Gibson could be forced to publicly apologise for claiming to have cured her terminal cancer with healthy food and natural therapies.

Victoria's consumer watchdog has launched Federal Court action against Gibson, saying she falsely claimed she had healed herself naturally when promoting her Whole Pantry app and book.

Consumer Affairs Victoria want Gibson to pay a fine and publish in newspapers an apology that acknowledges her lies and advises cancer patients to seek advice from medical professionals, according to court documents released on Friday.

The regulator says Gibson engaged in "unconscionable conduct" by claiming she had been diagnosed with brain cancer in 2009 and given four months to live, before taking and rejecting conventional treatments to heal herself naturally.

They also say she engaged in misleading or deceptive commerce by making these claims to promote her app and book.

This deceptive commerce was repeated when Gibson said she would donate a portion of her app's revenue to charities or other humanitarian causes.

This included the Birthing Kit Foundation, One Girl, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, and the family of a seven-year-old boy who is battling terminal brain cancer.

Gibson is said to have conducted misleading commerce before Mother's Day 2014 by telling purchasers of her app the full amount of that sale, and an additional $1 for family-themed social media posts, would be donated to not-for-profit 2h Project, and the Bumi Sehat Foundation.

The Whole Pantry app was available for purchase between August 2013 and May 2016, court documents show.

By March 2015, it had been downloaded 115,324 times from iTunes.

Gibson received $20,725 from Apple, while her company Inkerman Road Nominees - formerly known as Belle Gibson Pty Ltd - was paid $264,881.

It's believed Gibson and her company also received $28,452 from sales of the android version of Whole Pantry.

The consumer regulator say Gibson's company was paid $263,947 by publisher Penguin for her The Whole Pantry book, released in October 2014 and withdrawn from sale five months later.

Penguin had signed a contract with Gibson in late 2013.

- AAP