PSNI investigating after Canadian YouTuber Keffals is harassed by online trolls

Clara Sorrenti, who is known online as Keffals, fled Canada to Northern Ireland after speaking out about suffering a campaign of harassment in her home city.

Now the PSNI are investigating, after an image of the east Belfast apartment complex she is residing in was shared online.

The internet streamer has been subject to the use of ‘swatting’ by trolls on an online forum, with the malicious practice involving alerting police to bogus incidents in the hope a potential armed response may harm the victim.

A social media image of the apartment block was shared online with someone holding a letter which stated, “loyalists against troons”, a derogatory term used to describe transgender people.

Ms Sorrenti left Canada after being targeted on the online forum Kiwi Farms, when she gained notoriety for speaking out about transgender legislation in the United States.

In a YouTube video last month, Sorrenti said “innocent people are being hurt in an attempt to hurt me”, after police swat teams were sent to an innocent man who lived at her previous address as a result of the practice known as “doxxing”.

“I have been the target of an intense harassment campaign now for several months. I have had friends doxxed, I have had family doxxed, I have had people even loosely associated with me doxxed,” she added.

Speaking about the latest threats in Northern Ireland, the prominent figure on the streaming platform Twitch said: “It’s pretty insane that this followed me. I leave Canada and now I’m in Northern Ireland and the same thing repeated itself, except Northern Ireland police did not pull a firearm on me so that’s cool. I appreciate that.”

“I have never had anyone in my life show up outside where I am staying with a note saying you are not welcome in this community. I try and see the funny things.

“I don’t even want to leave [Northern Ireland] now . . . If I go to somewhere else in Europe, the same situation could just happen again, except the police aren’t aware.”

In a statement to The Sunday Times, the PSNI said they received a report of an incident last Tuesday.

“Officers attended the scene but found nothing ongoing on their arrival. Inquiries are continuing surrounding the incident which is being treated as hate-motivated at this time,” a PSNI spokesperson added.