• Brianna Madia, like many common influencers, has been the topic of a number of Reddit “snark” boards.
• Earlier this 12 months, Madia labored with an newbie investigator to show these she claims are the haters who tarnished her life. 
• However some say her quest for vengeance perpetrates the identical vilification she suffered.

Content material warning: This story discusses suicidal ideation.

Brianna Madia’s 319,000 Instagram followers are sometimes handled to dreamy photographs of her beatific life on the street, together with sweeping desert-scapes, her beloved orange van named Bertha, and her 4 cute canine. 

As an early van-lifer, she accrued bold-faced followers like Jason Momoa, and her prolonged Instagram captions, through which she waxed poetic about being head over heels in love together with her husband, Keith, laid the groundwork for a HarperCollins memoir, “Nowhere for Very Lengthy.” 

In March, nonetheless, Madia, who relies in Moab, Utah, posted a searing, 39-minute video with a decidedly totally different message. 

Tearful and emotionally spent, the 33-year-old described how, after being relentlessly cyberbullied in a Reddit discussion board known as “MadiaSnark,” she collaborated with a digital investigator roughly two years in the past to determine 200 “snarkers” — a nickname for scathing critics of influencers — who she says turned her life right into a dwelling hell and drove her to suicidal ideation.

In a quest for retribution, she deliberate to show them, together with their names — and, in some instances, their areas and occupations.

“I sat with these names for over a 12 months attempting to determine do I actually wanna undergo with doing something legally? That is exhausting. I simply need it to go away,” Madia advised Insider. “And I simply began dropping names and it felt so good.”

In October 2021, Madia additionally discovered her now-ex-husband, Keith, who she was with for 11 years, had participated within the discussion board – a revelation that did not emerge from the investigation, he advised Insider, however from a letter he publicly penned on MadiaSnark. 

Nonetheless, it despatched Madia “over the sting” and into the hospital with a panic assault, she stated – a gutting revelation as Keith was key to a tragic controversy that turned her into such a hated determine within the first place. 

“I feel that was in all probability a type of moments in your life the place you change into a totally totally different individual,” Madia advised Insider.

In her video, Madia launched 25 names of individuals she claimed had been snarkers alongside screenshots of vicious feedback she stated they’d made. In the end, Madia stated, the snarking lept off the display and into her actual life. She was doxxed and stated she misplaced out on work. 

“If you happen to suppose you’re nameless, when you suppose you’re invincible, when you suppose you will not ever be discovered and requested to defend the stuff you’ve stated and completed,” she stated on the prime of her video exposé, “you’re sorely, sorely mistaken.”

Numerous snark subreddits thrive unabated at this time, with arguably the most well-liked, Blogsnark, fueling a perverse symbiosis between creators and haters. However the rise of snarking has additionally raised questions concerning the tenuous line between criticism and abuse. 

Madia has been one of many first influencers to struggle again towards her snark neighborhood tactically, and at scale. Whereas her quest for vengeance has obtained broad assist, some wonder if she’s taken issues too far. They are saying doxxing critics marks a step past justice, perpetrating the identical vilification that she has suffered.

A troubling incident together with her ex made Madia ripe for on-line hate

A lot of the snarking directed at Madia may be traced again to a near-fatal automotive accident in 2018 when Madia’s ex-husband, Keith, unintentionally struck their canine, Dagwood. 

As Keith tells it, they had been letting their canine run beside the van whereas driving someday, when Dagwood out of the blue took a 90-degree flip, and Keith felt a bump on the again driver’s aspect tire. He wrapped the injured canine in a towel, he stated, as they drove for hours to the closest vet. 

“I’ve by no means seen or smelled issues like I did that day,” Keith stated.

A GoFundMe for Dagwood’s care raised a staggering $95,197, and he in the end survived. However Madia initially saved the information of the accident from her followers, and did not reveal that Keith had been the one driving till July 2020, after that they had separated — a secret she stated she saved to guard them. 

Keith advised Insider that he felt disgrace and concern across the accident. “Due to that platform and due to the cash, I wasn’t allowed to speak about it,” he stated. “I feel in some methods, I used to be defending her. I feel in some methods, she felt like she was defending me.”

After Madia revealed the reality, she provided refunds in an try and make issues proper, however stated solely six of seven,000 donors took her up on the provide. 

She acknowledged that $95,197 feels like an “insane” determine however claims that Dagwood was within the ICU for 29 days and needed to endure six surgical procedures, two blood transfusions, pores and skin grafting, and 6 months of bodily remedy. She claimed she additionally donated among the cash to different canine in want. When requested, Madia didn’t present Insider with paperwork to corroborate the expenditures.

Keith agreed that Dagwood’s bills had been astronomical and that the couple had paid ahead among the donations to different canine in want, however advised Insider that 1000’s of {dollars} from the GoFundMe had been spent on a few of their very own bills, like lease, as that they had moved out of the van and into an residence to take care of Dagwood. (The GoFundMe specified that “All donations will go in the direction of serving to cowl the price of Dagwood’s intensive surgical procedures and restoration.”)

“This isn’t meant to harm Brianna as I used to be additionally part of the accident,” Keith stated. “It is time to be accountable and clear with everybody who donated.”

Keith shared a 28-page bill from Bend Animal Emergency in Bend, Oregon that tallies as much as $51,145 in complete fees. Nevertheless, each he and Madia stated that the medical bills had been better, as Dagwood required subsequent care.  

Keith additionally shared financial institution statements with Insider, highlighting transactions he claimed went in the direction of their lease on the time, which added as much as over $10,000. He additionally stated a small, separate pocket of funds was both put towards day-to-day bills or into financial savings. 

“I do not imagine we had been accountable or in the correct thoughts to deal with this quantity of donations appropriately, appropriately, or transparently,” he added.

Madia agrees that among the cash was used for lease and different requirements, however stated she advised followers on the time in an Instagram remark (which she is now unable to find) that funds could be allotted to some private bills.

“I do not know, did we order a pizza as a result of we needed to maintain vigil over Dagwood 24/7?” she stated. “I do know that I didn’t misuse these funds. I did not go on a fucking Disney cruise.”

Legitimate criticism ultimately spiraled into vitriol

Customers of the MadiaSnark subreddit relentlessly rehashed the GoFundMe controversy. However the criticism wasn’t coming from documented donors, Madia stated, and subsequently spun into unbridled vitriol.

Commenters within the subreddit known as her an “unbearable cunt” who abused medication, per the video. In addition they stated she had “practically killed her canine for clout,” and accused her of solely claiming to be suicidal for consideration.  

In her video, Madia outlined the fallout. Redditors doxxed her, she stated. They falsified tales to get sponsors — together with a pet meals firm — to drop her, she stated. They claimed she was destroying Airbnbs. They managed to get a (digital) cease on her guide tour canceled, she added. (Madia shared what she stated had been screenshots of the pet meals firm confirming the sponsorship had been discontinued, in addition to the bookstore saying the occasion cancellation.)

“These folks left the pc display and infiltrated my actual life,” she advised Insider. “They bought concerned in my marriage. I imply, it was simply nonstop.”

Roughly two years in the past, the tide started to show when a girl who calls herself Selena stumbled upon one in all Madia’s posts whereas doomscrolling on Instagram.

Selena, who declined to reveal her actual title however who confirmed her position in these occasions over a cellphone name, advised Insider that she noticed point out of MadiaSnark within the feedback and began to poke round. She wasn’t a fan, however upon additional inspection, turned each fascinated and anxious by the disproportionate response to Madia’s actions. 

Cyberbullying was additionally a problem that hit near dwelling, as a good friend had been bullied to the purpose of a suicide try, she advised Insider. “I noticed a random alternative to do one thing about it and I did,” she stated.

Selena, who had taken programs in digital forensics and coding — and whom Madia likens to “Batman” — posed as a hater on the MadiaSnark message board to glean intel. She recognized snarkers by discovering their display names on different social media accounts or reverse-image-searching photographs they’d shared on Reddit of their canine or tattoos. 

“Every thing I did was fully authorized and based mostly on data that they freely gave,” Selena stated.

‘It feels precisely like Bri to get revenge,’ Keith stated.

Keith advised Insider he started dipping onto MadiaSnark after the couple’s breakup, anonymously responding to the occasional remark. 

Then, in October 2021, he posted a prolonged letter — full with a selfie as proof of his id — to set the document straight about Dagwood and his battle with drug habit that intensified within the wake of the accident. “I bottled that guilt up so tight that it virtually killed me,” he wrote. (Keith advised Insider he is now been sober for roughly two years.)

“I noticed a spot the place I may voice myself to folks that knew the story, that had been speaking concerning the story,” Keith advised Insider. “I did not wish to be part of the hate. I wished to be part of the clarification.”

MadiaSnark was shuttered on February 24, per a observe from its moderators, simply earlier than Madia printed her video expose. Keith stated he is glad the discussion board is gone, as “there have been a variety of simply hateful issues being stated,” however he disagrees with Madia’s resolution to call names. “It feels hypocritical, and it feels precisely like Bri to get revenge.”

Different former snarkers have apologized publicly for his or her participation, however cautioned towards Madia’s techniques. 

“I do not really feel like ready round for weeks to search out out if my title is posted,” one individual claiming to be a former member of MadiaSnark commented beneath Madia’s video in March. “Please do not lookup and harass the ladies she names on this video — that’s simply perpetuating the identical dangerous, vindictive behaviors that damage Brianna.” 

Regardless of a wave of dissent, Madia stated she firmly stands by her actions and plans to proceed releasing names. She hopes the exposures function a warning shot to would-be snarkers. And he or she’s additionally engaged on a follow-up guide concerning the saga. 

“They weren’t gonna cease, they’re nonetheless not gonna cease, and I am sorry, determined occasions name for determined measures,” she stated, noting the abuse nonetheless hasn’t ceased even amid the doxxing. “These folks – they’re drug addicts, and I’m the drug.” 

Of the 25 names of the alleged snarkers she launched publicly within the video, Insider couldn’t determine many, partially due to how frequent some names are. Correct contact data for others was not available. Of the 25 alleged snarkers, Insider was in a position to find eight and reached out for remark. None responded.

Right this moment, within the absence of MadiaSnark, a faction of critics have doubled down on a brand new Reddit discussion board, ExposingBriannaMadia, Madia stated. She stated Selena is investigating that venue as properly, and Madia is weighing a defamation swimsuit and a civil stalking injunction towards two of her most vicious critics.

“I’ve gotten a variety of apologies,” she advised Insider, “which I do not forgive these folks. I by no means will. I do not suppose a single a type of would’ve arrived in my inbox had they not been frightened of me outing them.”