Of course, there are ‘rules’. Hit the register button on Tattle Life and you’ll see a whole host of rules and regulations pop up, including things like; “Keep it on tattle, and don’t encourage any behaviour that could be seen as harassment.” Reddit, similarly, has guidelines for users: “Remember the human. Reddit is a place for creating community and belonging, not for attacking marginalised or vulnerable groups of people,” reads one.

But while some of the content may be offensive and harmful, it’s not illegal. “I genuinely don’t think the people who use Tattle think they’re doing anything wrong – they just see it as harmless gossip,” says Foster “But apart from the few seconds they post on Instagram, you don’t know what’s going on in someone’s life – seeing comments like that can be enough to tip you over the edge.”

There have been several attempts to take down Tattle Life. A petition to close the site, launched in 2019 has been signed by over 68,000 people and is still receiving signatures daily. In the summer of 2021, influencer Em Sheldon also gave evidence before a parliamentary committee, calling for the site to be taken down. Meanwhile, Instagram has removed links to Tattle Life after users complained about the forum’s content, stating that it was against its policies to promote or glorify bullying or harassment.

Yet despite these attempts, Tattle Life – and other sites like it – continue to exist and cause harm. “Anybody can be targeted and have a thread set up about them,” adds Foster. “If it hasn’t already happened, someone is going to take their own life because of forums like Tattle, Reddit and all the others, because they won’t be able to cope with the stuff that’s been said.”

In the Vice documentary, Calloway tackles her trollers head-on by calling one of the most prolific posters in the forum – the president of the subreddit. And they’re embarrassed – admitting they said some “not nice things” which they regret. “I don’t want your mental health to be suffering this much,” they tell Calloway – as if, only now, they see her as a real person.

And so, while it’s unlikely the hunger for gossip will end any time soon, perhaps Calloway has shown us that we can expect more push-back, more lawsuits and more accountability in the future. Because ‘spilling the tea’ – even in an anonymous digital space – does in fact have real-world consequences.

“They know so much about me”: Gossip forums are bigger and more dangerous than ever