Woman shared urgent message to people after someone faked her death on social media
A TikToker who became the victim of a death hoax has shared an urgent message.
22-year-old Grace Wolstenholme uses the social media platform to provide transparency on living with cerebral palsy, and since 2021 has accumulated over 1 million followers.
In a cruel twist, one of her most popular clips was used without her permission by an account selling pillows - captioned their repost: "I lost my autistic sister today so I bought this pillow to imitate cuddling her."
Wolstenholme spoke to BBC about the implications of this spreading of misinformation, given the fact the now-deleted fake death video was watched 650,000 times.
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"There's a lot of bad people on social media, so you do need to check the facts," she shared.
The social media star's original video captured Wolstenholme throwing a punch and falling over during a gym session, alongside a personal trainer, who tried to catch her.
Her attention was brought to its misuse back in May when somebody she knows got in touch with her mother to pass on their condolences.
Wolstenholme had been relatively silent for the three months prior, making the hoax seem genuine.
"People were commenting saying 'rest in peace, Grace. I love you'. People were severely devastated hearing I was dead," she recounted.
A domino effect ensued, with Wolstenholme's viewership crashing and her income dramatically diminishing.
"My disability isn't autism, it's cerebral palsy. So he got my disability wrong, and said I was dead," she went on to mention.
The doctored video was removed from TikTok after Wolstenholme contacted somebody on Instagram with the exact same username. It then returned just a few days later with its shadowy author sending her a flurry of offensive messages to rub salt in the wound.
The platform got rid of the video for a second time after the BBC intervened, citing a violation of its community guidelines.
Wolstenholme also claimed that her legion of fans was 'deeply disgusted' by the mean-spirited pirating of her content.
"It's triggering for my followers to see because some of my followers suffer with their mental health," she said.
Another video appearing to mock her disability was uploaded by the same TikTok channel, although the name of the business was not that of any limited company registered at Companies House.
Wolstenholme reported the harassment to the Metropolitan Police, which confirmed it was exploring 'several lines of inquiry.'
A police spokesperson said in a brief statement: "The victim continues to be supported by officers. At this stage no arrests have been made."
She made sure to inform her Instagram fanbase of what had transpired in an explainer video too, leading to loads of supportive messages.
"Love you Grace, there are some troubled people in this world for sure," read one of the comments.
"You have my support all the way, what a sick person he is," raged somebody else.
"To quote: Don't let the b******s grind you down. Keep smiling, that p****s off the haters far more," a third person rightly pointed out.
Dan Seddon