Words, depending on how they’re used, can leave a lasting impact on people. Sadly, in this age of rampant polarization and social isolation, words have become a tool to propagate poor behavior and hateful comments online. Unfortunately, one content creator found herself at the receiving end of such online vitriol.

People called out a woman for fat-shaming an overweight influencer for feeling confident.

A TikToker named Mary Fran (@itsmaryfran) who is known for spreading positive messages and advocating kindness uploaded a lighthearted video on body positivity and being overweight. She says, “Just a reminder that I am very fat and very sexy.”

While the video attracted many supportive comments, it also earned its share of disapproving reactions. Following Fran’s video came a scathing response from TikTok user Nami (@nami_m0mmy), an avid gym goer, who claimed that Fran was promoting “unhealthy behaviors” to her followers. 

Though Nami has since made her account private, her videos have been slammed for evidently fat-shaming Fran. In a since-deleted video, Nami declares, “You can be happy, you can be confident – great. But what we’re not going to do is glorify unhealthy behaviors.”

In another video, Nami dismisses commenters who accused her of cyberbullying, making contentious claims that cyberbullying doesn’t actually exist: “How the f— do you get cyberbullied? Turn off your phone. There’s literally a block button for a reason.”

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Sadly, Nami’s videos prompted Fran to receive hateful messages. 

Responding to the outpour of harassment, the body-positive influencer uploaded another video regarding the heartbreaking ordeal.

In tears, Fran says, “I don’t understand how somebody could have so much hatred and anger for somebody they’ve never met,” adding, “But they seem to be comfortable enough to sling horrible, horrible names and issue really scary threats, and release personal information with the threat of being hurt.”

Luckily, prevalent content creators like Soogia (@soogia1) came to Fran’s defense and posted her own thoughts on the matter. Soogia explained that, despite all of Nami’s efforts to make herself outwardly beautiful — “she changed her hair, she learned how to wear makeup, and she worked on her body and got really fit” — she has failed to understand that “true beauty” has to come from within herself.

“So when [Nami] looks at somebody like you,” Soogia adds, “and she sees somebody who is just so joyful and filled with so much light and love for herself and everyone around her, she doesn’t get it.”

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The things we say online can deeply affect people.

We all say things we don’t mean from time to time, but when it comes to the internet it becomes a little hard to excuse a hurtful comment that is deliberately written, checked, and further posted online for the world’s review. 

As we tap away onto our thumb-printed keyboards, whether to send a text message, scroll through eons of social media posts, check our bank accounts, or set that morning alarm clock, we rarely grasp that the world is quite literally at the tips of our fingers. 

In light of this, we’ve become desensitized by those on the “other end” of the screen, those with feelings just as real and valid as our own, and sometimes we may end up saying things that can deeply hurt the other person. In severe cases, instances of cyberbullying can even lead to detrimental consequences, with victims of cyberbullying experiencing a "significantly elevated likelihood of experiencing suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts, or completed suicide," according to a 2023 study.

Fortunately, Nami has issued an apology and has since made her account private; hopefully this can be a lesson for internet users to be mindful of how we present ourselves online (and in the real world) because you can never truly know what others are going through and how your words might affect them.

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Xiomara Demarchi is a New York-based writer and frequent contributor to YourTango’s news and entertainment team. Keep up to date with them on Instagram.