6 People Whose Lives Were Destroyed By Social Media

1. Lindsey Stone encountered the wrath of Facebook (and then the world) when she posted a photo of herself on Facebook giving the middle finger to a “Silence and Respect” sign in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. She was on a work trip at the time and the image caused so much controversy that her employer fired her. Stone has attempted to repair her online reputation but the internet never forgets.

2. While at a tech conference, Adria Richards overheard two men behind her and thought they said the word “dongle” in a sexually suggestive manner. Her public shaming appeared to work: one of the men was fired by his company. Then the whole thing backfired. Her company, SendGrid, fired her, saying it had concerns about the way she publically shamed the two men in her tweet and how it would impact the company.

3. An unnamed 19-year old day care worker in Mesa, Arizon was sacked for sending a Snapchat photo to friends. In the image, she was holding up her middle finger to one of the children in the daycare, and the caption was “Swear I love kids.” The police got involved, and ultimately she was fired for using her cell phone when she should have been watching the children in her care.

4. Anthony Weiner had it all, a high-powered career, a beautiful wife, and a crazy obsession with online nudity. He was caught when he tweeted an image of his member, mistakenly beliving he was sending it privately. He lost his job, and then when he was caught sexting with an underage girl, he finally lost his wife and his son.

5. Taylor Chapman walked into Dunkin Donuts one morning in June 2013, whipped out her iPhone and recorded herself berating the two employees who worked the counter. Chapman said she was there the night before and didn’t get a receipt so she was entitled to free food. Over the course of ten nearly unwatchable minutes of footage, Chapman spewed racial slurs, threatened violence, and hurled sexual insults at the two workers. Chapman posted the footage herself on Facebook. It quickly became viral and the backlash was brutal. Chapman, who has suffered from mental illness since childhood, has been hospitalized twice. She lost her job and deleted her social media accounts due to the unrelenting harassment.

6. University of Connecticut student Luke Gatti got drunk and wandered into the school cafeteria, demanding mac and cheese. When the carbs weren’t forthcoming, he spent 9 minutes hurling homophobic slurs at the cafeteria manager. The police were called, and Gatti was arrested. He had to drop out of school and has deleted all his social media accounts.