10 hours ago
Troll made £500k a year from sick abuse of my mates GK Barry & Stacey Solomon – I know how to stop it happening again
FOLLOWING years of fevered speculation over who's the mystery owner making vast profits from toxic website Tattle, the truth has finally been revealed.
It's an Englishman called Sebastian Bond, aka Bastian Durward (anagram 'u inward bastard' — how apt.)
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And guess what? He's a ' vegan blogger' who has written plant-based recipe books and probably subscribes publicly to the #BeKind mindset while simultaneously making around £500k a year in ad revenue from the largely anonymous vitriol posted by his site's users.
Tattle, for anyone in blissful ignorance, is infamous for unfiltered discussions about celebrities and online influencers, including my friends Stacey Solomon and GK Barry, who are both genuinely lovely people and deserve better than to be harshly judged by someone who's probably never even met them..
It claims to be a forum for 'free speech' and, for sure, many of the posts making firm but fair criticisms of anyone who monetises their life by putting it online fall under this description.
But there's also anonymously posted content that's at best, pure vitriol, at worst, downright lies that can ruin the subject's livelihood.
And thanks to Bond's efforts to obscure his finances by operating across international jurisdictions such as Hong Kong, he has been happily profiting from other people's misery while shielding his own identity and income . . . until now.
Enter Neil and Donna Sands from Northern Ireland. He's a 43-year-old tech entrepreneur, she's the 34-year-old founder of fashion label Sylkie, and together — after finding a 45-page thread of defamatory and false claims about them on Tattle Life — they used their own money to launch a legal action.
In December 2023, it resulted in them being awarded £150,000 each and, this month, finally saw reporting restrictions on Bond's name being lifted.
The High Court has also ordered Bond to pay costs of £1.8million, and frozen assets of over £1million, believed to be from the site's ad revenue. It will review this decision next week.
The Sands have now made the following statement…
'For nearly a decade, the hate site Tattle Life has profited as a space where users could defame, harass, stalk and attack others online — all behind a veil of seeming anonymity . . .
'For some, this court ruling comes sadly too late, as the site has cost innocent people their businesses, reputations, and mental health.
'For others, we hope it marks a turning point — a reminder that the internet is not an anonymous place.'
Except that, sadly, it still is unless you have the financial means for a protracted legal battle.
I have been writing this column for nearly 30 years now, and every week it's checked by sub-editors, executives and lawyers before going to print.
If I published a sentiment as blatantly vile and unfounded as some of the comments currently on Tattle, I would immediately be 'cancelled', lose the majority of my freelance work and rightly be sued.
That's because my name is at the top of the column so I take full ownership of my views and I'm easy to track down.
But the anonymity of some of the internet's worst trolls means that it's still the Wild West when it comes to libel laws, and I have long argued on this page that everyone should be required to have an online handle that, at the very least, includes their real name, a verified photo and country location, even if it's @JaneMooreUK4567.
That way, it might make some of the internet's worst offenders think twice before posting downright lies designed to destroy someone's peace of mind or livelihood.
Will this successful legal action prove to be the final nail in Tattle Life's coffin?
Perhaps, but chop off the monster's head and, like the Hydra, it will simply grow another.
The only way to truly thwart the worst of unfounded bile is to make online trolls identifiable so they think twice before posting it.
BEWARE SIZZLE, GWYN
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GWYNETH PALTROW says that when TV producer Brad Falchuk was her boyfriend, she started the tradition of making him breakfast every Saturday morning.
'It became this very special moment for us. They are called #boyfriendbreakfasts to this day.'
And of course, he's now her husband.
But Gwynnie isn't slacking now she's got the ring on her finger – oh no.
Here she is, er, topless while cooking him a skillet brekkie of eggs, tomatoes and sizzling sausages.
To which, I can only comment: 'Ouch.'
Chefs wear aprons for a reason.
REGULAR readers of this column will know that I have long campaigned for The Who frontman Roger Daltrey to receive a knighthood for his tireless fund- raising in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust.
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And finally, it has now happened.
Arise Sir Roger. Long overdue but truly deserved.
SCHOOLS LOOS OUT
A NEW survey by Parenthood says pupils don't want to attend school because the toilets are so disgusting.
It found that one in six parents rated the loos at their child's school as unclean.
Obviously, schools should make every effort to ensure that such facilities are checked and cleaned regularly.
But equally, most of the kids currently saying they want to skip school because of these conditions will no doubt happily toddle off to Glastonbury / Reading /Leeds festivals and defecate in a stinking hole in the ground with just a flimsy piece of hessian shielding their modesty from the 45-mile queue.
RETURNALL TO FRANCE
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DESPITE the Prime Minister 's ludicrous claim that the UK is leading the world in tackling people-smuggling gangs, the evidence that we're not is there for all to see.
More than 16,000 have reportedly reached these shores from France this year alone, despite us paying Emmanuel Macron 's government nearly £500million to supposedly help stop the small boats.
Last week I suggested that, rather than focusing on the desperate people risking their lives to board the dinghies, the French police could simply arrest the balaclava-clad people-smugglers holding the keys.
This week, I have another suggestion. To cross the Channel in one of these flimsy contraptions, it takes anything from three to six hours, depending on the weather.
And the majority are picked up halfway across by lifeboats or Border Force vessels who then bring them to the UK.
But as we supposedly have a 'deal' with France, why don't we just pick them up and immediately return them to the same beach they boarded from?
News would soon get round and act as a deterrent, no?
THE head of private school Winchester College says parents should take summer holidays in places with bad WiFi to encourage their children to read good books and stay off their screens.
Hmmm. Nice idea, but pretty much every time I've seen someone pacing agitatedly around a hotel trying to pick up a decent signal it's nearly always been one of the parents.
GO FOR IT, BRAD . . . UNTIL INES PUTS HER FOOT DOWN
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BRAD PITT 'S recent fashion choices have led to suggestions he may be suffering from a midlife crisis.
Baggy jeans, shiny nylon cargo pants, a banana-yellow suit – these have all been cited by fashionistas as evidence that the 61-year-old movie star is perhaps trying to cling on to his youth because new girlfriend Ines de Ramon is just 32.
But personally speaking, I feel that any man who eschews the mid-life male's uniform of baggy grey T-shirt and elasticated-waist cargo shorts should be celebrated.
And as Ines undoubtedly knows, we always have a secret weapon when a partner starts favouring a clothing item that does them no favours.
We quietly dispose of it and, when they ask where it's gone, reply wide-eyed and innocent with: 'Sorry honey, absolutely no idea.'
CHEER UP, CHAPS
THE difference between men and women: Part 784.
Here's Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali and Jonathan Bailey promoting their new movie Jurassic World Rebirth at an official photocall in London.
Exuding Hollywood glamour with red lipstick, designer suit and killer heels, Scarlett beams broadly at the assembled photographers.
Meanwhile, the two blokes look like a couple of dressed-for-comfort tourists who've been ambushed by a charity canvasser.
Cheer up chaps. Think of the pay cheque.
