EARLIER IN THE week, popular Irish Instagram account Bloggers Unveiled shared a statement in which they expressed concern for an individual who had wrongly been accused of running the Instagram profile.
The person behind Bloggers Unveiled, which has over 220,000 followers, wrote:
“I’ve been contacted by friends and family members of someone this week who have voiced their concerns for the wellbeing of their friend who is under suspicion by simply being at an event and doing her job.
She is getting hate mail and finding it hard to cope. I want to help, but I also don’t want to make anything worse for these people and draw attention to it. (Sic)
“The worst of it however, is a girl who contacted me first back in April after hearing that her name has been circulating as being responsible for this page. I’ll admit I didn’t take her concerns seriously at first. I told her to relax, it’ll blow over and it’ll be someone else next week.”
Source: Bloggers Unveiled/Instagram
BU then said that this individual had received a death threat in the post - a Mass card with "RIP X" written on it.
The person who received the death threat has seen their name popping up in forums and has been followed by influencers on her personal account, which Bloggers Unveiled believes to be an act of intimidation.
This is not okay. When I distance myself from it all, I find the whole thing so sickening it's unreal. This page isn't personal, and if people could see half the DMs I receive, they would realise I'm not out to ruin people or cause hurt.
"I don't post 90% of the stuff I get, and sure I'm a little brash at times and have probably over-stepped the mark at certain points, but the purpose of this page has always been to show the truth. So how have we gotten to the stage where someone's life is being threatened over this?"
Bloggers Unveiled ended the statement by saying they cannot sleep at night knowing that someone else is fretting about the page and that when they started their page, they believe "there was something deeply wrong with parts of this industry. This is now confirmed".
'Living in fear'
The woman who has received death threats, Ramona Tracey, spoke to The Times about her experience.
The 29-year-old Offaly woman has received prank calls to her mobile phone and salon business in Tullamore, and messages that read "hope you rot in hell" and "may your ovaries rot from inside out." On top of that, fake Instagram profiles have been made using Ramona's photographs.
Ramona Tracey told The Times that she is living in fear of her life and that she is using medication to cope with the stress.
It has reached a stage where I'm taking medication to cope with the stress and anxiety, and I am not a weak person but this has destroyed me.
Tracey said that the past few weeks have been the worst of her life, and that even after the death of both of her parents she never had to turn to medication to cope with stress or anxiety.
She fears that the next person who is targeted may not be able to cope as well as she has been coping and although she is now afraid to go out in public, she is still "100% fully" in support of Bloggers Unveiled.
Tracey contacted local gardaí, who have since launched a criminal investigation into the threats and harassment she has received.
A spokesperson for the gardaí said the enquires about the complaints are ongoing.
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