The man behind an online gossip forum where users tear down both famous and regular people has been unmasked.
‘Gossip’ website Tattle Life first appeared on the internet in 2018 as a website for people to ‘fairly’ criticise celebrities.
But seven years and 48,000 threads later, the site has become notorious for people to mock, degrade and dox family members of content creators.
Now the man behind Tattle Life has been exposed as plant-based recipe influencer Sebastian Bond, known as Bastian Durward of Nest & Glow.
Irish couple Neil and Donna Sands discovered the 43-year-old’s identity after suing the website for hosting defamatory commentary about them.
They argued that the website has ‘profited as a space where users could defame, harass, stalk and attack others online’.
Donna, who runs the clothing brand Syklie, and tech businessman Neil were awarded £300,000 by the Northern Ireland High Court last week.
What is Tattle Life?
Tattle Life says it is a commentary website for ‘public’ social media accounts.
Its landing page says: ‘We allow commentary and critiques of people that choose to monetise their personal life as a business and release it into the public domain.’
Categories for ‘public figure gossip’ include families, gurus, Instagrammers, bloggers and so-called traditional celebs.
SimilarWeb, a web analytics service, says that Tattle Life has received more than 15.5million views in the last month.
Users on the site, called ‘Tattlers’, have been known to make cruel comments about people’s weight, disabilities and children.
Only today, a user called ‘mushroomprincess22’ said in a thread discussing an Instagrammer: ‘She looks horrendous and so out of proportion with her MASSIVE horse head and tiny sparrow legs. X.’
Another thread on two influencers says one has a ‘balloon chest and beady eyes but still thinks she’s the ultimate prize’.
Who is Sebastian Bond?
With reporting restrictions lifted, Bond has been unmasked as the man secrely running Tattle Life.
He is ‘a former office worker that quit long days in London to move to the countryside and share natural recipes and lifestyle tips’, according to his profile on Nest & Glow.
An Amazon author page for his £20 cookbook says Bond has a ‘passion for sharing healthy recipes to inspire everyone to eat natural food full of nutrients and vitamins’.
Bond is linked to two businesses: Yuzu Zest Limited (a UK-registered company) and Kumquat Tree Limited (registered in Hong Kong).
Company House records show the former is in liquidation but is alleged to offer ‘media representation services’.
Tattle Life’s website says it is run by ‘Helen McDougal’ of ‘Lime Goss’.
Why has he been exposed?
Neil and Donna say they found a 45-page thread on Tattle Life where users trolled them. After asking the site operator to take it down in 2021, they took legal action two years later.
Awarding damages to the couple in December, Justice McAlinden said Tattle Life was ‘clearly a case of peddling untruths for profit’.
He said: ‘It is the exercise of extreme cynicism – the calculated exercise of extreme cynicism.
‘Which in reality constitutes behaviour solely aimed at making profit out of people’s misery.
‘People facilitating this are making money out of it… protecting their income streams by protecting the identity of the individual posters.’
In an Instagram statement, the Sands said the court ruling comes ‘sadly too late’ for countless people’s ‘businesses, reputations and mental health’.
They said: ‘For others, we hope it marks a turning point – a reminder that the internet is not an anonymous place.’
Content creators have thanked the couple for taking Tattle Life to court.
Northern Irish content creator India Sasha raised a glass as she said: ‘It is the most pathetic, disgusting website to ever exist.’
She added: ‘If you’re anybody that took any part in any of that, I strongly suggest that you stop posting on it and stop being a part of that toxic cycle of bringing people down in this country.’
Irish actress and influencer Abigail Parkinson said on TikTok: ‘Well done to Donna and her husband that did this, on behalf of me and everyone else that has been relentlessly bullied and targeted and just been a victim to this disgusting, horrific website.’
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