Elaine Heng, also known as Elaine Jasmine, or Elaine Ruimin, was in the news in 2018 for an unfortunate incident where she forgot to fulfil some client's sponsored posts.

To her credit, she did return the money and items.

Unfortunately, she had to face an even murkier scandal as the year came to an end.

Tumblr and falsehoods

It started more than a year ago, when someone uploaded a video of a lady engaging in sexual activities on Tumblr, and identified the lady as Heng.

Heng made some videos refuting the video when it first came out but since it didn't have a link to her page, the fallout was relatively ok.

October 2018 though was when things got way worse.

That same clip was posted, this time on Weibo, and with screenshots of her Instagram page accompanying the video.

According to her Instagram post, her inbox was spammed with a tonne of dick-pics and men propositioning her for sex.

Thing was, Heng is adamant that the video isn't of her.

Although Heng did acknowledge that the lady in the video did look like her from some angles.

So why address it now?

Clarification

According to her post, Heng decided to broach this issue due to two main reasons.

1. Clarify that it wasn't her;

2. Stand up for those who are going through cyber-bullying or sexual harassment.

This, of course, has not been her only avenue in dealing with this issue.

According to Heng, she confided in close friends, made a police report, and even talked it out with her parents to assure them it wasn't her.

A point they themselves apparently came to when they watched the video with her after her birthday, and was immediately convinced that it wasn't her.

Although the police can't possibly completely stop the video from being shared online, and her family and friends can't protect her from every single vitriolic comment online, Heng felt better because she didn't feel as "alone and cornered".

More attention

Some might point out that addressing this is counter-intuitive.

With more people either searching for the video now, or refusing to believe her side of the story.

That is an outcome that Heng readily accepts as a possibility.

"I no longer have to be afraid because I have clarified the truth. And I have my loved ones and the police standing by my side. I no longer want to go on my days filled with the fear of "what if more people find out." Instead, I want to own the new year and this issue with strength, courage and honesty."

Here is her post.

View this post on Instagram

(continued) It really wasnt easy typing this, and I cried so hard while doing so, but I hope that if you’re reading this and going through any form of cyber bullying or sexual harassment, you will see that you have every right to speak up and stand up for yourself. That you’re not alone. That you are bigger than that battle you are facing. Stay strong and fight hard. And let’s all be kinder to each other 😣🙏🏼 Thank you for reading this, thank you for your understanding.

A post shared by Elaine Rui Min 瑞敏 (@elaineruimin) on Dec 30, 2018 at 7:23am PST

And here are the notes in case you can't see it.

And a continuation on her caption.

(continued) It really wasn't easy typing this, and I cried so hard while doing so, but I hope that if you’re reading this and going through any form of cyber bullying or sexual harassment, you will see that you have every right to speak up and stand up for yourself. That you’re not alone. That you are bigger than that battle you are facing. Stay strong and fight hard. And let’s all be kinder to each other ??? Thank you for reading this, thank you for your understanding.

The perils of Tumblr

Image collated from Heng's Instagram