[imagesource:here]

In one hate-filled corner of the internet is a gossip forum called Tattle Life.

Browsing the vitriol in the various chats and forums with categories like Families, Gurus, Instagrammers, Bloggers, Influencers, and Celebs has been described as “dipping a foot into an acid bath”.

The Guardian reported that the notorious founder, who goes by the pseudonym “Helen”, says that the site was created as a space for reasonable critique of public figures:

“It isn’t trolling as it gives people somewhere to comment about people that choose to become a public figure and broadcast their private life to make money,” she said.

As you may already be able to tell, most of the criticism is hurled disproportionately towards women, whose lives are dissected to such an extent that many have reported becoming suicidal.

Managing somehow to work more in the shadows than in mainstream media, Tattle Life has become one of the most-visited websites among UK users.

Tattle received around 43,2 million visitors in the last six months alone – mostly from British users as almost all the people discussed on Tattle are British:

While politicians of all parties fulminate about the social media giants, Tattle flies beneath the radar. This is due partly to the perception that its subjects – female influencers and media personalities with professional management and large Instagram followings, often working in the parenting, fashion, or beauty arenas – in some way deserve the anonymous vitriol, or should deal with it as the price of success.

Browse long enough and you might spot a hateful comment aimed towards someone’s appearance: “One ugly bitch,” reads a post about television reality star Katie Price.

Others attack parenting methods:

[Abbie] Draper, 31, a business owner and influencer from Glasgow, has been discussed on Tattle Life. “Thinking about how vile she is is making me vom,” goes one typical comment.

When Draper gave birth to a baby boy, Blaise, in February, Tattle users mocked the name for its similarity to the word “blaze”, and began calling him Baby Spliff. “I didn’t call my baby his name for two months,” says Draper. “They tarnished the name for me.”

The worst was when the forums accused one mummy influencer of drinking while pregnant after she had posted a picture promoting non-alcoholic prosecco on Instagram:

“I thought social services were going to take my baby off me,” [Katie Hayes] says. “I had to ring the local authority for advice on what to do. If it wasn’t for me being pregnant I wouldn’t be here today. I was suicidal.”

Some even go directly for the jugular, dismantling a person’s mental health.

Addresses and personal information was even leaked on the site, which is obviously a major threat to their safety and general wellbeing.

A quick gander revealed a forum titled “Chloe Ferry #4 Out in Dubai, lips getting fatter, pinch your nose and mind the splatter.”

The comments equate her lip job with fraud, with one saying “Don’t need a personality if you’re just a beard”, while the rest try to dissect her love-life and family life.

Influencer and TikTok star Vickaboox wrote for Grazia, saying that she wouldn’t wish Tattle Life trolling on her worst enemy:

@vickabooxDont ever be embarrassed to feel things…it takes strength to be able to tell how you feel❤️😚 ##emotions ##selflove ##advice♬ Easy On Me – Adele

She spoke about the nasty comments she faced, directed not only at her but her mother and ex-boyfriend, too:

Quite frankly, I’m frightened. And I’m tired. Nobody – whether they’re an influencer or not – should have to tolerate this level of abuse. I’m speaking out about it as I firmly believe these kind of gossip forums need to be banned. And more needs to be done to bring about awareness of these sites.

Other women are also speaking out about how their mental health and reputations are being damaged by these Tattle trolls, per Sky News.

Lauren Elizabeth who has amassed 24 500 followers on Instagram, started a podcast called ‘Nip, Tuck, Not Giving a F***’, with her fellow influencer and friend Ashely Stobart, who has 20 800 Instagram followers.

On the podcast, they reflect on online bullying and their experiences with Tattle Life:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Nip,tuck, not giving a f*ck (@ntngaf)

Here’s Lauren:

“They actually wrote that I was a drug dealer. That isn’t gossip, those are serious allegations that are untrue, and you can’t take back one once they’re out there.”

Any time she posted a picture of her friend, they would be taken in on the hate wave, too:

Ashley Stobart says she was horrified at what users were writing about her after spotting her on Ms Harris’s Instagram.

“I just don’t have the mental capacity to take some of that stuff in. They ridicule your looks, they ridicule how you are as a mother,” says Ms Stobart.

“We’re normal people, we’re mums, we’re not going on [social media] and promoting weight loss products and getting paid thousands of pounds, we don’t have fashion endorsements.”

People have tried to take the nasty site down, with one petition garnering 63 000 signatures, to no avail.

Influencer Em Sheldon even gave evidence before a parliamentary committee, calling for the site to be taken down.

But the twisted forums still remain, creating anxiety and paranoia as women in the spotlight fight to keep themselves above it all.

[sources:guardian&graziadaily&skynews]