Tiziana Cantone has committed suicide. The controversial Italian lady was subjected to online humiliation after explicit images and a sex tape of her leaked online.
Cantone's footage drew attention to her acts of performing a sex act on a man and was uploaded online in spring 2015. According to The Independent, she had uploaded six different videos to five of her friends, whom she trusted.
However, the clips soon went viral online and even appeared on porn sites and social media. Jeering comments, cruel video parodies, and edited screenshots, many of which mentioned her full name, turned her sexual act into a viral meme. Online ridicule mostly highlighted one of Ms. Cantone's throwaway phrase, "You are making a video? Nice one."
Several rumors posted online about the 32-year-old were later reported by the media. Examples include the claims that Cantone was attempting to become a professional porn star.
Tormented by mimicry, Cantone moved to another house and changed her name. This year, she won a legal case, which forced Facebook to take down the abusive posts that targeted her, Repubblica reported.
However, following two suicide attempts, Cantone's family revealed that she had taken her own life in her mother's home. In court, her mother asserted that her daughter had been unable to untangle herself from the previous events.
Cantone had been unhappy, suffering from everything she witnessed both through the internet and word of mouth, according to her mother. She also said that her daughter had not been satisfied by the results of the lawsuit as justice had not been done.
Public Prosecutor Francesco Greco has now opened an investigation pertaining her death, which will possibly dig deeper into the impact that the online humiliation affected her. According to her friend, Teresa Petrosino, Cantone was "distraught" by the online ridicule and the events.
Petrosino was shocked by how online audience had fiercely raged against an innocent girl. According to her, all those who hauled insults online should have been mortified by their acts as they still secretly watched the images.
In 2015, Cantone succeeded in having the videos removed from online search engines but the videos still went on appearing after that. The continuous online stream of insults and abuse is what led her into committing suicide.
Watch a video highlight of Cantone's story: