'Mommy influencer faces lawsuit threat over misleading Instagram reel.' AITA?
"AITA for threatening to sue a mommy influencer?"
Me (39F) and my husband (44M) are currently looking for a new home, after outgrowing our current starter home. We live in a suburb of a major metropolitan area, I'm an architect and he's an attorney.
Ideally we're looking for a home that has some good bones, that we can renovate to our taste since I'm an architect and we have friends who work in the trades. Long story short we toured a house two weeks ago that I thought may be a good fit.
There was a lot that needed to be changed and updated but for the price listed I thought it would be something we wanted to pursue. Flash forward about 4 days and I get a text from one of my friends asking if I'd seen this, with a link to an instagram reel from a local 'mommy' influencer (35F).
I click on it and its a security camera video of my husband and I walking through the home on a tour with our realtor, and she's taken all the clips where I was talking about things that I didn't like or what I would change, and spliced it up.
So, it looks like I'm being highly critical of her home. The rest of the video is her saying she would never sell to us because we are 'mean and nasty people'. Our faces are clearly visible in the videos I might add.
My husband drafted up a cease and desist letter yesterday threatening legal action unless she removes the videos and now she's blasting us all over town to kingdom come with her little army of mommy trolls on my husbands law firm social media accounts and my firms webpage (mind you I'm the owner of my firm so it doesnt make a difference for me, but it does for my husband).
She hasn't taken down the video yet and we are fully prepared to take her to court if she doesnt. My realtor is extremely embarrassed and said that the other realtor is embarrassed as well.
Needless to say we are not pursuing her house anymore and are taking a pause while we deal with this. Two of our friends said we should've just tried to ride it out and let it pass because this type of thing always does, but I just could not let her do this. AITA?
Here were the top rated comments from readers in response to the OP's post:
NTA - (your friend)
Get her. Take her down. Go after this toxic bullshit with as much ferocity as you want.
100% agree! I can’t stand this kind of person manufacturing drama for internet clout. God I can’t wait until the ‘influencer’ idiocy fades into the past and it’s just one more stupid fad that we cringe about.
NTA- go after her and hit her as hard as you can. Also I’d be surprised if the realtor doesn’t try to bring some kind of action against them or drop them entirely as this is gonna make it near impossible to sell the property when anyone who walks it could end up internet fodder for some influencer wannabe.
Also sue her for defamation of character, harassment, screenshot everything, find out your local laws concerning recording without consent, and take any money she's made from the views of you.
NTA- You have been doxxed. You have enough to have a good court case and win.
Talk to your husband, but you should sue the realtor, sue the owner, sue the influencer and sue the platform. If the realtor ever said something like "I'll leave you two alone so you can talk" while you toured the house (my realtor said that to me and my wife when we toured a home) there's an explicit statement of privacy that even a one party consent law might have problems with.
NTA - influencers need to be held accountable for their fake BS.
How toxic can a person be? And to show your faces?? They aren’t very bright and should probably consult their own attorney to get a feel for the damage they’ve caused.
When we sold our house, it had security cameras installed, and we were told that they could not be on - or recording. In Delaware we were told it was illegal (??) We also had to disclose the cameras to prospective buyers to solve this issue. I would flat out take her to court, and the more she blasts you, the more I would go after. Your Hubby is the lawyer so I'm sure he knows all of those ins and outs.
Absolutely sue her. Because there might be Disadvantages for your husband and also for you! She is trying to harm you for a story, just to make money with it. So it would be a good thing if you sue her, because it would show that she can't just do whatever she wants, and abuse anyone just for her to make money.
And then maybe contact an influencer to show your side of the story, especially your expertise: what you would change and why, maybe with some tips for people who want to improve their homes...
If she doesn't want her home "changed " and she wants to keep the "integrity of the house" why is it even up for sale. ?? Just cause a person wants to change things about a perspective house doesn't mean they're mean and nasty people.. geez. Not everyonr is gonna have the exact same taste as you.
If you go after her with everything you have (it’s a lot with video proof and unlimited attorney representation), you are not only standing up for yourself but also protecting the rest of the community from this unhinged, entitled individual. Crush her. It’s the right thing to.