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Woman Commits Suicide After Her Friends Released Sex Tapes

by Eleanor Harmsworth
Instagram

A woman hanged herself after private sex tapes of her went viral, it has been reported.

Tiziana Cantone was found in her aunt's home in Mugnano, near Naples, on Tuesday.

The 31-year-old sent six different videos to five friends whom she trusted, but as soon as the next day, the clips were posted on the internet and went viral, according to the local newspaper La Repubblica.

Cantone was harassed on the internet and in public to such a great extent that she had been forced to leave her job and move to Tuscany, where she tried to change her name.

After a lengthy legal battle, she won a "right to be forgotten" ruling, which demanded that the video be removed from websites and search engines, including Facebook.

Cantone was also ordered to pay 20,000 euros ($22,500) in legal costs, which local media have called a "final insult."

However, due to the nature of the internet and the popularity of the sex clips, the videos still haunted Tiziana.

The phrase that she says in the video, "You're filming? Bravo" seeped into popular usage and even became a catchphrase that was printed on t-shirts, smartphone cases and other paraphernalia.

People all over the world are offering their sympathies:

At her daughter's funeral on Thursday, Cantone's mother, Maria Teresa Giglio, described her daughter as "a very good girl."

Prior to the funeral, Giglio told a court that her daughter was "unable to untangle herself from the events."

Giglio said,

She had always been a healthy, normal girl. Recently, she had been very unhappy. She suffered from everything she saw and heard, and in particular from the lawsuit, because she believed justice had not been done.

Four people are under investigation by criminal prosecutors over alleged defamation of the woman, Italian state media ANSA reported.

Cantone's death has opened up discussion in Italy about the bullying on the internet and violence against women.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi told reporters,

As a government, there's not a lot that we can do. It's mainly a cultural battle -- also a social and political battle. Our commitment is try to do everything we can... Violence against women is not an ineradicable phenomenon.