A Sydney woman has ignited fierce debate online after posing a moral dilemma about loyalty, friendship and betrayal: what would you do if your best friend cheated on their partner?

Cassidy McGillwho regularly shares her musings on TikTokadmitted she always thought the answer was simple – until she was forced to think harder about where her loyalties would truly lie if it happened to her.

‘If your friend was cheating on their partner – once or multiple times – would you feel an obligation to tell the partner?’ she asked her followers.

‘Or would you talk to your friend about what they’re doing and ask them what’s going on?’

Cassidy, whose video was a hypothetical scenario, said that while cheating wasn’t a crime she considered it an enormous betrayal and a major red flag about someone’s character.

‘To me, it was so black and white until my opinions on the topic got skewed,’ she said.

‘If it was my best friend cheating repeatedly, I don’t think I could be their friend anymore. I wouldn’t feel an obligation to tell the man that my best friend was cheating on them – it’s more about the lack of morals coming from my friend.’

She explained she was ‘a girl’s girl through and through’ and would never want to feel like she was siding with a man over a female friend.

But repeated infidelity would still be a dealbreaker for her friendships.

‘I wouldn’t go as far as telling the partner, but I would sever that friendship,’ she said.

‘If it was a once off, I’d probably find a way to sit them down. As friends, we have a responsibility to pull each other up and let them know when they’re going wrong.’

Cassidy added that modern friendships often lack this level of accountability, with too many people afraid to have uncomfortable conversations.

‘I cherish the fact that if I was doing something questionable, my friends would be smacking me across the back of the head immediately,’ she laughed.

Her video quickly racked up hundreds of comments from people weighing in with their own strong views on what loyalty should look like.

‘If she is happy to betray her husband she’s not going to think twice about betraying you,’ one said.

‘Unfortunately if they were a cheater I’d have to phase off the friendship as I’d question their character and would doubt how loyal a friend they are to me,’ another wrote.

Some argued that they’d never ‘dob in’ a friend but would deliver a stern reality check.

‘I definitely wouldn’t tell on my best friend but I would be giving her a reality check,’ a woman admitted.

Others took the opposite stance.

‘Yes, tell the partner. Everyone knew my ex was cheating on me and no one told me. It was humiliating.’

A few admitted the decision might come down to who the partner was.

‘Depends on the partner. If he’s a nice guy, I’d judge my friend and be like, what are you doing? But if he’s a prick and treats her badly, I’d be like, well…’

Meanwhile, another summed up the issue by pointing out that cheating is rarely just about the act itself.

‘The problem is it’s not just “cheating” per se, it’s the qualities that lie underneath – lying, disrespect, being untrustworthy. Those aren’t good traits.’

The clip has since sparked wider conversations online about whether loyalty to your friend outweighs honesty to someone being betrayed – and whether choosing to stay silent makes you complicit.

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If your best friend was cheating on their partner, what would you do? Aussie woman sparks heated debate about controversial topic