Social media influencer Siobhan O'Hagan has spoken out about the "harmful" and invasive acts of "sabotage" she says she endured over several years at the hands of users on the gossip website Tattle Life.
Speaking on RTÉ's Prime Time on Tuesday night, the Irish fitness influencer, who has 161,000 followers on Instagram, described the relentless scrutiny she's faced and the profound impact it has had on both her personal and professional life.
"I think for the last seven or eight years I've had every single thing I've done twisted and criticised and analysed," she told presenter Miriam O'Callaghan.
"I'm a very open person, I’m a very opinionated person. I always say, 'If you don’t like what I post, don’t follow me.’
"But, I found that I will even think now, 'What are they gonna do with it? How are they gonna twist this into a negative narrative?’"
O'Hagan said users on the site have fabricated stories and deliberately tried to undermine her work and reputation.
"We all make mistakes. I've made mistakes in the past. I don't know if they’re talking about that… but I know they’ve made up a lot of lies," she said.
"They've done whatever they can to try to sabotage me. I don’t really know what they want me to do. But, in terms of influencing, I work with a lot of businesses, and I know they contact them and send them lies."
She also recalled attempts to hack her website and disrupt her online coaching business, describing how trolls have signed her email up to spam lists or flooded her inbox with junk.
"Just little things… they have too much time on their hands. Luckily, I'm in a very good place, so I've been able to rise above it. I know I have friends who have been harmed much more by it, and they're looking at it.
"It is tempting to see what they say because you want to correct it, or you want to say the truth. But, I've learnt from other people trying to correct it that they don’t want the truth. They just want gossip."
Her appearance on Prime Time came just days after the formerly anonymous owner of Tattle Life was named as Sebastian Bond in a Belfast court. In a landmark ruling, Neil and Donna Sands were awarded £300,000 in damages after taking legal action over defamatory comments posted about them on the site.
O'Hagan said: "I'm not sure how much will actually change, but I definitely feel like…[I have] a bit more confidence in myself this week. I've never even mentioned Tattle before this week, and now here I am talking about it."
She's not alone in doing so.
Television presenter and radio personality Brian Dowling Gourounlian also welcomed the news, describing it as a long-awaited moment of vindication.
"Also on Friday, my birthday, I got messages saying that the person that runs the website Tattle has been exposed," he said.
"I am absolutely delighted. This is something, a battle, Arthur and I have been having with this website for a long time now.
"They have tried to destroy our reputation, ruin our lives, in fact, with the vileness they have been saying.
"We have all the messages, we've spoken to the guards, we have screenshots, we have usernames, we have everything."
The Six O'Clock Show host added: "My hope is, now this man has been exposed for who he is, that as part of his deal, he will now release the email addresses of all those people online with all their names.
"And I get to find out who they are. I can't wait."
Journalist and podcaster Rosemary MacCabe also reflected on her experience, writing on Substack about "how it feels to be torn apart online by people who, for whatever reason, really f****** hate me," while admitting the site "almost destroyed me".
UK influencer Mrs Hinch, real name Sophie Hinchcliffe, said she feels "ready" for the anonymous users of the site to be unmasked.
Hinch, who has over 5 million Instagram followers, has also been a long-time target of online abuse via Tattle.
Tagging Donna and Neil Sands on Instagram while watching a report about the Belfast court case, she wrote. "Well, hello there Sebastian. I've silently waited over 7 years for this! Your identity finally revealed."
"Next up… reveal the rest of the anonymous sickening toxic tattlers. I’m so ready."
Click here to catch up on Tuesday's episode of Prime Time on the RTÉ Player
