Latest news with #NeilSands
The Irish Sun
13 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
‘They've tried to ruin our lives' says Brian Dowling as he breaks silence after long battle with troll website
BRIAN Dowling has broken his silence after a "long battle" with a trolling forum. Last week on Friday, June 13, the owner of the Irish gossip website Tattle Life was revealed as Sebastian Bond. 2 Brian has spoken about the 'long battle' himself and his husband has had with Tattle Life Credit: Instagram 2 Neil Sands and his wife Donna wo n their defamation lawsuit against Tattle Life last week Credit: Instagram/@donnasands_ The online forum hosted threads of mainly anonymous people commenting on influencers, celebrities and general members of the public and it attracted up to 12 million visitors per month. The owner was named publicly after an Irish tech entrepreneur Neil Sands and his wife Donna took legal action against the gossip site. The couple won their defamation and harassment lawsuit over abusive comments posted on the site and were awarded £300,000 in libel damages at the Belfast High Court last week. The owner, Sebastian, was also found to have had an alias Bastian Durward, which is known on the internet as a vegan cooking influencer and author of the book 'Nest and Glow'. read more on brian dowling The Nest and Glow Instagram account had amassed 135k followers, but hasn't shared a grid post since 2020. Many celebrities and influencers have been overjoyed by the news after years of being bullied relentlessly on the website. He said: "Also on Friday, my birthday, I got messages saying that the person that runs the website Tattle has been exposed and his true identity is now out there. read more on the irish sun "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 vile-ness they have been saying. Brian Dowling gets bizarre facial "We have all the messages, we've spoken to the guards, we have screenshots, we have usernames, we have everything." "And I get to find out who they are. I can't wait." The Virgin Media host and his hubby have experienced an ''RABBIT HOLE' The famous pair have been heavily criticised for their parenting techniques and are predominantly targeted for their sexuality. Last year, just before the birth of their daughter Blu, Brian and Arthur endured a fierce level of trolling - to the extent that their address was leaked online. Brian told "You're not putting someone's address up just for the sake of it. And that was very, very dangerous because obviously at the time at home; Aoife was heavily pregnant with Blu, Blake was a baby, everyone knows I'm on radio and telly over there, so I'm not there. "And I just think that was when a line was crossed. Because it was our GDPR, it can't be broken." Brian admitted he went down a "rabbit hole" on the website where his address was leaked and he found the "worst of the worst" that people were accusing him of from "paedophilia to sexual abuse to alcohol". The 46-year-old added: "And you're like, 'Oh my God, these people are not like these people. It's not normal to do that. "At the end of the day, it's also not legal. It's also not illegal unless they're stalking, which there is. And it is a hate crime, but it's just trying to prove it. I think if you're in different countries, it's easy to get details."
RTÉ News
16 hours ago
- Business
- RTÉ News
Man who sued Tattle Life says case 'very complicated'
An Irish tech entrepreneur has said that a defamation and harassment case he and his wife took against gossip website Tattle Life was a very complicated and complex legal and technical undertaking. On Friday, Neil Sands and his wife Donna, who are based in Co Antrim, were awarded £300,000 in libel damages at the Belfast High Court as part of what has been described as a "landmark" legal battle to uncover the operator of Tattle Life. Mr and Ms Sands won their defamation and harassment lawsuit over abusive comments posted on the site. Tattle Life is an online forum, which attracts up to 12 million visitors a month, and has thousands of threads that allow people to comment on influencers, celebrities, and the general public. Following the lifting of reporting restrictions on Friday, the defendants were identified as UK national Sebastian Bond and Hong Kong-registered companies Yuzu Zest Ltd and Kumquat Tree Ltd. Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Sands said that the online space has "always been difficult to police" and given that he and his wife are business owners, their "online reputation is very important" to them. Mr Sands said that the website describes itself as a "gossip site" but he said: "The reality is it's actually a well-designed forum for hate, harassment, defamation and stalking." He explained that the comments escalated and innocent interactions he and his wife had with people were being recounted and published on the site and were "twisted" and "very defamatory". Mr Sands said this created momentum to act. "We discovered as we dug into it, it was just so many people. They're not all influencers, they're just business owners that are affected by the site. So, we had to do something," he said. He added that the laws around online regulation are "very opaque" and "difficult to navigate". "We're just a normal couple. They're very big personalities and organisations and the police in several jurisdictions have tried to take down the website Tattle Life or make the owner accountable. "And so it was quite a complex legal undertaking, but also a complex technical undertaking," Mr Sands said. He said because he has a technical background, he was able to work with the legal team to uncover who was behind the site and pursue them through the courts. Mr Sands said: "It's not an easy thing to speak about. And I can tell you that we're not alone in this phenomenon of online harassment.
BBC News
3 days ago
- BBC News
Tattle Life: County Antrim couple awarded £300k in legal battle
A County Antrim couple have been awarded £300,000 in libel damages after they sued controversial gossip website, Tattle Neil and Donna Sands secured the pay-out in a defamation and harassment lawsuit over abusive comments posted on the defendant companies and suspected operator of the site, Sebastian Bond, can now be revealed after reporting restrictions were lifted at Belfast's High Court on couple obtained £150,000 in damages each as well as legal costs in December 2023 after suing over what they regarded as "hate speech". The website which hosts threads commenting on influencers, celebrities and general members of the public has attracted up to 12 million visitors a judge said the site had been set up to deliberately inflict hurt and harm on others by allowing the anonymous trashing of people's reputations. What happened? Neil Sands, 43, a technology entrepreneur and his 34-year-old wife Donna who has a fashion business, sued over posts made in February claimed they were subject to a campaign of harassment, invasion of privacy, defamation and breach of data legal battle lasted two years and was undertaken at the cost of Mr and Mrs Sands.A series of freezing orders for more than £1m were also made while a worldwide forensic investigation was carried out to identify the defendants and their defendants can now be identified as UK national Sebastian Bond and the British and Hong Kong-registered companies Yuzu Zest Limited and Kumquat Tree Limited.A barrister argued it was now beyond doubt that Mr Bond operated the outside court, Mr Sands said the case had been taken on behalf of others who have suffered serious personal and professional harm through anonymous online legal efforts are expected to focus on securing enforcement of the damages award.
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Tattle Life gossip website operator named after couple awarded £300,000 libel damages over posts
A Co Antrim -based business couple have been awarded £300,000 (€352,000) libel damages as part of a landmark legal battle to uncover the operator of a controversial gossip website. Entrepreneurs Neil and Donna Sands secured the payout in a defamation and harassment lawsuit over abusive comments posted on Tattle Life. Reporting restrictions on naming the defendant companies and suspected operator of the site, Sebastian Bond, were lifted at the High Court in Belfast on Friday. In December 2023 Mr and Mrs Sands obtained awards of £150,000 in damages each, plus legal costs in mounting the action over what they regarded as a form of 'hate speech'. READ MORE It is believed to be the largest defamation payout of its kind in Northern Ireland . A series of freezing orders for more than £1 million were also made while a worldwide forensic investigation was carried out to identify the defendants and their assets. In a ruling delivered at that stage, Mr Justice McAlinden stated: 'A day of reckoning will come for those behind Tattle Life and for those individuals who posted on Tattle Life.' The online forum, which hosts threads commenting on influencers, celebrities and general members of the public, has attracted up to 12 million visitors a month. Neil Sands, a 43-year-old technology entrepreneur, and his wife Donna, 34, who runs a fashion business, sued over postings made back in February 2021. The couple claimed they had been subject to a campaign of harassment, invasion of privacy, defamation and breach of data rights. According to the judge, the site had been set up to deliberately inflict hurt and harm on others by allowing the anonymous trashing of people's reputations. 'This is clearly a case of peddling untruths for profit,' he stated. In a complex two-year legal battle undertaken at their own cost, Mr and Mrs Sands deployed advanced technological and intelligence methods as they sought to discover who was in charge of the site. The defendants can now be identified as UK national Sebastian Bond and the British and Hong Kong-registered companies Yuzu Zest Limited and Kumquat Tree Limited. Barrister Peter Girvan argued it was now beyond doubt that Mr Bond operated the site. With reporting restrictions and anonymity orders lifted, further legal efforts are now expected to focus on securing enforcement of the damages award. Speaking outside court, Mr Sands stressed the case had also been taken on behalf of others who have suffered serious personal and professional harm through anonymous online attacks. 'We believe in free speech but not consequence-free speech; particularly where it is intended to, and succeeds in, causing real-world damage to people's lives, livelihoods and mental health,' he said. 'We were in the fortunate position to be able to take the fight to these faceless operators, and it took a lot of time, effort and expense.' Solicitor Peter Barr of Gately NI, who represented the couple, detailed the scope of the global forensic investigation. 'We had to pursue the money around the world, from the UK to Hong Kong, using a mix of legal innovation and digital evidence to expose what was clearly a sophisticated effort to avoid scrutiny,' he said. 'This judgment sends a clear message that online anonymity cannot shield unlawful behaviour.'
