Aude, you have hit the nail on the head for me here. It's at the core of my struggles with influencers (and many others too). I just can't fathom it because, as you say, honesty is my default setting, frequently to my detriment. I have worked alongside many people for whom it isn't, and it's been my experience that they are the ones who get ahead. The world loves a liar and a manipulator.
I don't mean to put myself on a pedestal, and I am not bitter. I'm not speaking of honesty as a Virtue here, just as a way of being in the world that comes naturally. I can't not see dishonesty as self-betrayal and I always wonder how people are able to allow for it so they remain at peace with themselves