Minutes after the tragic death of the reality TV presenter Caroline Flack influencers were making it about themselves and using it to push their own narrative.
Looking to link a tragic death so soon after it’s announced is beyond distasteful, let alone link it to yourself.
One of the main points The Samaritans make is to not go looking for easy targets to blame following a suicide.
Social media influencers make their living by turning their personal life into a living Truman show and are rewarded handsomely. Parents of young children are using these children as their business to make money by using them in adverts and selling images to brands. Children can’t consent to their image and intimate details being shared with the world and have been indoctrinated by their parents to see it as normal and acceptable.
Their life is in no way comparable to Caroline Flack. She was a real celebrity, one of the highest-paid TV presenters in the UK and social media was just one tool in her chest.
None of us have any idea what went into this horrendous event for her, her family and friends. Unless you know her it’s really not your place to start espousing blame to further something you believe in. You don’t know this woman, you don’t know what was going on in her life. As Caroline said herself recently “you don’t know what’s happening behind the scenes.”
Most of the influencers using the tragic death to push their own narrative didn’t even follow her. They don’t really care, it’s just another death to exploit like a vultures they are.
Keep reading to find out what these influencers said to exploit the death and what they themselves said before they found fame. It’s very easy to be whiter than white once your a celeb and very careful about what you post, however a quick look into pre-fame posts shows their hypocrisy.
The image below was posted by Sophie Hinchliffe at the same time Tulisa was at rock bottom with her legal action over the fake Sheikh. While she had people constantly looking after her as her management thought she was at risk of suicide.
Mrs Hinch has also publically named people and incited her 3+ million followers to harass. Some of her followers were sending death threats to people she publically named. Mrs Hinch did nothing to stop her Hinch army that she incited to spread hate.
Mrs Meldrum (another Instagram mum known for adverts on social media) took to Instagram minutes after it was announced that Caroline Flack had taken her own life to post about herself and blame people.
A prefame Mrs Rebecca Meldrum shows troll messages that she posted as a nobody.
Neither of these influencers has ever apologised for their past indiscretions.
Another mum influencer that gave up a teaching job to post Instagram and YouTube adverts with her children was quick to push her own agenda.
Sadly crying troll is an engagement goldmine. Trying to get people to leave comments is the number one a social media influencer can boost themselves in the algorithm to get more followers and in turn charge more per #AD.
Sadly when an ex Love Island contestant ended their own life influencers were within minutes making it about themselves and saying it was due to “trolls”. Ignoring that the person was having financial difficulties and struggling with a recent family bereavement. They didn’t care about the person, they just saw a death to use for their advantage.
Many of these influencers were deliberately targeting the online forum Tattle Life in their message. This forum allows people to discuss social media influencers.
Tattle life is one of the most strict communities out there. It’s certainly not a free for all and has a zero-tolerance policy towards any hateful, abusive or threatening content. It takes the privacy of online influencers way more seriously than many of them do themselves. Tattle only allows comments of those who use social media to make money and deletes any comments about family members that don’t put themselves out there.
The word trolling has lost any meaning, it’s now used to talk about any comment that isn’t gushing praise.
Unfortunately many influencers have never had a real job and live in a bubble. They have no idea normal people have critical reviews at work and businesses are also subject to reviews from customers.
People being critical of social media influencers on forums like Tattle Life are not trolling anyone as they deliberately comment on a site where it won’t show up in someone’s feed. You would have to go out of your way to seak comments on forums. Anyone posting on tattle encouraging people to @ someone is promptly banned as that’s against their very strict rules.
There’s a big difference between trolling someone with hateful comments and gossiping about someone that plays the game of fame. Sending a vile message wishing harm on someone @ them in their feed is trolling. Gossiping about someone that chases fame on a site they have to go out of their way to read isn’t trolling.
If you monetise your life and the life of your children and share your private life online it will invite comments.
The comments on tattle life are the same comments people have in real life with each other, not the things you’d never dare say in real life. Tattle has very strict rules so it doesn’t have abusive or hateful messages.
What about the widely acknowledged negative effects on people from unrealistic lifestyles on social media? Suicide rates have been increasing in recent years and countless studies show that social media negatively impacts many peoples lives. It’s not as simple as unfollowing, that doesn’t stop the culture.
Who is protecting the members of the public over the harmful effects of influencers? The ASA is supposed to regulate them but is very toothless and almost always just gives a slap on the wrist when influencers lie and deceive audiences with their adverts.
It’s really damaging to jump to conclusions that the press is the blame of Caroline Flacks suicide. Mental health does not discriminate and unless you’re famous it won’t be headline news. Posting #bekind won’t solve mental health or help anyone.
The real story here is suicide is a huge killer. Sadly many people end their life believing it’s their best option, when it almost certainly isn’t.
This is a very difficult article to put sensitively but felt it needed to be said with so many influencers taking advantage of a tragedy for their own gain. Please do let me know below what you think of this attempt, I’m open to criticism and constantly improving myself.
If you need to talk to someone please talk to one of these organisations:
- Samaritans (http://www.samaritans.org/) is a registered charity aimed at providing emotional support to anyone in distress or at risk of suicide throughout the United Kingdom. They provide a 24/7, toll-free crisis line, as well as local branches.
- Samaritans Helpline can be reached at 116 123.
- Samaritans’ previous hotline number, 08457 90 90 90, is no longer in use. Calling this line may result in charges for call forwarding.
- Campaign Against Living Miserably (https://www.thecalmzone.net/) is a registered charity based in England. It was launched in March 2006 as a campaign aimed at bringing the suicide rate down among men aged 15–35. It has a limited-hour phone and webchat options.
- CALM (Nationwide) can be reached at 0800 58 58 58 (available every day from 5PM to midnight).
- CALM (London) can be reached at 0808 802 58 58 (available every day from 5PM to midnight).
- CALM webchat can be found at https://www.thecalmzone.net/help/get-help/ (available every day from 5PM to midnight).
- Shout (https://www.giveusashout.org/) is the UK’s first free 24/7 text service for anyone in crisis anytime, anywhere. It is a place to go for those struggling to cope and in need of immediate help. Shout is an affiliate of the ‘Crisis Text Line’ in the U.S., but this is the first time the tried and tested technology has come to the UK.
- Text HELP to 85258
This is absolutely spot on and needs to be shared far and wide! Thank you.
Could not be more spot on.
I have witnessed some outrageous stories and comments from some of the bigger accounts in the last 2 days. Extensive ‘be kinds, be better, do better’, long tearful tales of their own experiences of ‘trolling’ (usually not trolling) and then followed in quick succession by an AD.
2020 is already a mess.
I agree with every single word. Perfectly put and I hope some of the people posting stuff like this read this and take note.
These people boil my piss, all they care about is making money from adverts. They want to silence anyone that doesn’t agree with them. They want to live in a dictatorship where they make the rules and everyone else is a subject. Thanks for writing this, it was sensitive to Caroline while also calling out people that are using her.
I read that Caroline told police she would kill herself after being cautioned for domestic abuse (not her first DA offence I believe) & facing a possible prison sentence so I would think that has more to do with her suicide than anything else.
Also celebrities “court” the media when it suits them, having their agents ring the papers to “tip them off” where they’ll be. They also accept huge sums of money for interviews, photo shoots etc. Then, when they do something they’re not very proud of they cry harassment.
It’s dreadfully sad, but blaming just one component, when no-one knows the full facts, is ridiculous. And to do it to excuse your own actions (selling your kid’s lives online or breaking ad rules) is despicable.
Hits the nail on the head!
Sali Hughes is another influencer comparing what has happened to Caroline Flack to her having a Tattle thread. She is pushing her agenda on Twitter, saying people ‘trolling’ are literally causing suicides.
There’s s blue checkmark twitter accounts with hundreds of thousands followers deleting nasty posts about Caroline while simultaneously posting sympathetic mental health tweets. Theyre the real trolls are.
Spot on. Its trendy to profess ‘being kind’, til it’s forgotten about and the next thing happens that everyone’s got an opinion on.
The media seem to be stressing that she had only hours previously been told her trial would go ahead. I can see how It is perhaps this particular incident that pushed her to do what she did, rather than a culmination of online abuse.
Spot on!! 👌Couldn’t of put it better myself, this needs sharing as far as possible
Absolutely bang on. Especially the “gushing praise” bit.
You have hit the nail on the head. It is very true that they actually come on here to see what is being said about them, so they look for it. It is not aimed at them directly on their page. Then they will show their followers and have them call them out and spew vile hate against them while laughing and applauding it. They are the biggest hypocrites out there, they never practice what they preach. I recently saw lee sherrington and mrs hinch do this, all so they can get their followers to lick their arses and spill hate against people on here. Caroline flack was on another level to these people and did not deserve the hate she got from the press and social media. Innocent until proven guilty, it doesn’t matter what the cps said, its a jury who finds you innocent or guilty. I truly believe with real celebrities there should be an injunction on social media and press until the final outcome of a trial. You should not be named and left out to dry for ridicule.
What a wonderful article. Sarah Ingham from the “the Ingham Family” an influencer also has taken advantage of Caroline Flack death for her own gain. It was awful to read posts blaming trolls/haters when these people didnt even know Caroline personally.
Thank you for such an honest article