Owner of Tattle Life named

[BeardofHagrid]

The owner of hate forum Tattle Life has today been legally named as Sebastian Bond. He also goes by the alias Bastian Durward. He has tried to flee to Asia to avoid paying his legal costs.

https://goss.ie/featured/everything-we-know-about-the-owner-of-tattle-life-as-he-is-finally-named-423238

Basically if you caused someone anxiety you could be breaking the law? (Please someone legal tell me I'm wrong on this!)

So no twitter, insta, mumsnet, reddit, X, etc?

Surely you'd have to prove it was causing you anxiety as well? But also if it turns out that they're on there too? What a mess.

Just delete the site and get it over with 😅

I am in no way legally trained but a quick Google clarifies the malicious communication act:

"Unlike the offence of harassment, which requires a 'course of conduct' and cannot be established through a standalone communication, a person can in theory commit an offence of sending malicious communications through a single tweet or message."

We live in scary times where freedom of speech is circling the drain. If Ofcom can block entire gossip sites from the UK internet then I think it's quite likely to see individuals prosecuted for one off throwaway comments.

I might just stop posting on the internet entirely and just lurk. Until the act of simply viewing other people's opinions becomes illegal....it really feels like it might do if things carry on the way they are!

Surely, even if a site like Tattle is shut down, another forum will pop up in its place. I doubt the Government will be interested, their time would be better spent formalising Influencing as an industry and setting rules covering it with HMRC. Tattle started off the back of Influencers' shady business practices and avoiding accountability.

Well a few years ago I would agree, sites would just keep popping up to replace it. I'm not so sure since the Online Communications Act came in. It's actually a massive pain the ass to build a forum now. You have to prove to Ofcom that you are taking enough measures to prevent people in the UK being exposed to harmful materials. Ofcom has been clear as mud about what this actually means. Of course the big fish like Facebook are basically getting a free pass but much smaller forums are simply blocking UK visitors because it's just too difficult to comply. It takes money to set up a team to deal with all this extra regulation and the small fish just don't want the liability.

But apparently it protects the children so the fascism is justified. (Wish it bloody did, you should see the sort of content my daughter gets served by the YouTube algorithm!)

Is this directly to the individual? I struggle to.understand how the site is legal then if any message regarding any influencer could be considered malicious communication? What about influencers sharing random troll profiles? Or if I posted randomly that I thought Boris Johnson was a moron? (Disclaimer just an example). Forums and newspaper comment sections would be screwed.

I agree with you. Ive actually removed my Facebook, insta and any other accounts I'm associated with and will be going completely social media free.

I would have thought it’s sending it directly TO the individual. Otherwise yeah it would be insane to see anything anywhere commented about you and deciding “I don’t like you said that” and then taking them to court!

like I said I see on X everyday someone calling someone a cunt. Might be not nice but isn’t illegal.

Like I said the Irish couple’s case is done and dusted they’re using the momentum of reporting restrictions lifted on HIM, to get it shut down because it’s probably now the last thing they can do.
I read that several of these people trying different things now have also tried to shut it down in 2023 too.

I would have thought it’s sending it directly TO the individual. Otherwise yeah it would be insane to see anything anywhere commented about you and deciding “I don’t like you said that” and then taking them to court!

Could you imagine re Trump and Musk? It would be decades of court cases!

Is their case completely done?

Yeah it seems like they're moving with the momentum and surely if people tried to get it shut down in 2023, they likely knew about this case?

Can you imagine if it was every time you made a bad comment about someone? Football forums couldn't exist. Trump and Elon would be going through the court cases, Farage too. Facebook spotted pages would be in trouble!

Did you request any of your posts be deleted BTW or just your account?

According to my lawyer Mr Google, yes it can include tweets or posts that weren't directed at the person.

I genuinely don't understand how the internet can function with a law like that. I think it's rarely used so we haven't seen the extent of what can happen yet.

The prosecution would need to prove that the comment was deliberately intended to cause offence / anxiety etc. So presumably you would have to be aware that the person you wrote about would read it, and that they would likely be upset by it. But honestly that covers most of the stuff on Mumsnet about celebrities right now so why isn't everyone being hauled in front of a judge?

My account is pending deletion. No idea if that will even happen on the 20th.
Apparently it means then my posts stay but they don’t show my username no more. No clue.
Like I said I know I was not the worst but obviously I’m not proud about being bitchy at all, now I know how much this affected these guys. I just assumed they wouldn’t have read stuff about themselves online if it wasn’t pleasant- like why go looking for it?
At least that shows I have remorse! Some posters on there DGAF!

If it’s the google AI search at the top it isn’t always right!
Yeah it’s mad tho because some people get slagged off mercylessly online on all kinds of forums. Do they get brought to court? Who knew that I could get Nigel Farage to come after me cos I said he was a cunt on X.
Fans who say their fave player played shit at the weekend and needs to be sold. Could they cause distress? Be sued? Know what I mean it’s madddddddd.
And yes their case was settled in 2023 but then they haven’t seen any money from him so I guess they are doing what they can to get it!

Yeah some posters are just still going at it! Which seems mental to me now all this has come out.

Hopefully your account is just deleted and that's the end of it. I imagine it's the serial posters on the threads that the influencers will be after. The ones that have made it their life's mission to dissect everything they do.

I think it's a case of sitting tight and seeing how it plays out. It'll be very interesting what ends up happening.

I think site shut down is the main goal.

I still take that to mean sending it TO them.

Fair point about Google AI. I've done my own digging and found this extract from the CPS guidance.

"Prosecutors should consider the following, non-exhaustive factors, and should only proceed if they are satisfied there is sufficient evidence that the communication in question is more than:

• Offensive, shocking, or disturbing; or
• Satirical, iconoclastic, or rude comment; or
• The expression of unpopular or unfashionable opinion about serious or trivial matters, or banter or humour, even if distasteful to some or painful to those subjected to it; or
• An uninhibited and ill thought-out contribution to a casual conversation where participants expect a certain amount of repartee or "give and take";
• This is with reference to "contemporary standards… the standards of an open and just multi-racial society", assessing whether the particular message in its particular context is beyond the pale of what is tolerable in society" adopting the observations, as guidance illuminating these terms"

Source: https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/communications-offences

A lot of Tattle banter would fall under the casual conversation clause so may not be actionable? I guess it just depends what view the CPS decides to take.

I'm on Tattle but I'm not deleting my account. I never go anywhere near the influencer threads. I like the TV shows and crime cases discussions etc. Never posted anything I'd be worried about anyone seeing.

Some parts of the forum are absolutely fine. It's quite easy to not even realise how nasty some of the threads get, it depends where you look.

Here's an interesting summary of many recent cases using these online harassment laws. It's very interesting to see how the acts are used in practice.

https://athenaforensics.co.uk/think-before-you-tweet-twitter-and-the-law/

Worth noting this part:

"The Crown Prosecution Service has issued new guidelines in an effort to reduce what it sees as the alarming number of cases coming before the courts. “Just because the content expressed in the communication is in bad taste, controversial or unpopular, and may cause offence to individuals or a specific community, this is not in itself sufficient reason to engage the criminal law,” say the new CPS rules.
Tweeters can avoid prosecution if they rapidly withdraw a grossly offensive comment, express “genuine remorse” for it, or if the comment was not intended to be widely distributed in the first place."

I can't see individual Tattle posters being named, the only info that could be shared might be email addresses; anyone smart will have used something unidentifiable.

There'll be a huge number of members requesting account deletion; surely it'll be easier to take the whole forum down, which is all I think most people want.

The only members who might be at risk could be the ones that crossed lines, contacting brands/social services, inciting others to do the same, sending nasty DM's, that kind of thing.

It'll be sad if Tattle is shut down all because of an absolute albeit nasty minority. The influencer subsection isn't the be all and end all of the site. Far from it there's a whole other positive side to the place which exceeds the former.

The most extreme behaviour should of course be dealt with properly. Irresponsible behaviour is allowed to be called out within reason too though and punishing the membership who just joined to chat about other topics, have a laugh, and possibly meet new friends is unfair.

If these influencers were really bothered about nastiness towards them or others then they'd call for the same action with Twitter, TikTok and the like. They receive the same treatment there as they do Tattle, if not worse. But they won't. Then again jumping on bandwagons is the only way they survive after all.

Can some one explain what an ico is to me and why they are being told to apply which id imagine they have been advised to do

Not a chance.
Can only do a FOI request through the ICO for public bodies- basically ensuring public money being spent appropriately.

I think it's because the owner of tattle is saying he didn't know there was a case against him. So i think it's to prove he did know and emails were sent to him. Either way he's probably in trouble as he's either ignored documents or he's showing his moderation system failed which means he violated his t&cs

I think it should go. The site isn't just about influencers. Other people get caught in the crossfire.

They must of been advised to do so though