After more than a decade of making a name for herself in the social media sphere, Xiaxue has locked her blog and Twitter account.

The blogger-turned influencer has also filed for a protection order and harassment suit against the main members of the "woke mob" looking to "cancel" her.

Lines crossed

The situation was sparked by Xiaxue's comments on Workers' Party MP-elect Raeesah Khan, which led to a police report lodged against the influencer's past tweets.

Speaking to Mothership, Xiaxue said that while she accepts criticism as part of being a public figure, things can cross the line.

In this scenario, the mob has been "harassing [her] clients non-stop," as well as sending nasty messages to her family members.

"I don’t foresee this behaviour stopping anytime soon and I feel when people try to destroy my livelihood and harass me non-stop, I should not just take it lying down," the 36-year-old said.

"I just want to make it clear it’s not that I wish to shut anyone up just because they disagree with me. I respect their right to have their opinions, but they should not be defamatory in nature.

I do not resort to legal means often but sometimes it really crosses the line when real life ramifications like financial losses happens."

Xiaxue revealed that she has tried to explain the context of her posts to the main instigators of the mob, but they were reportedly "not interested."

Since successfully getting an interim protection order, a member of the mob has taken down her posts and privatised her account, according to Xiaxue.

"[The interim protection order] means that the court deems the content written about me is sufficiently harassing to warrant that it be taken down now, pending a full hearing," she said.

Fong Wei Li, her lawyer for the case and a long-time friend, explains to Mothership how "cancelling" someone can cross the line to harassment:

"Cancelling someone usually involves making negative comments about that person publicly. And when it can be objectively shown to a court that these comments will likely cause the person being cancelled to feel alarm or distress (for example, when the comments adversely affect a person’s income or livelihood), the court may regard the comments as harassment.

It doesn’t matter that the comments are true; even a true comment, when publicised irresponsibly, can cross the line and become harassing in nature."

Fong, who deals with commercial and civil litigation, is a director at DC Law. His profile states that his forte is in media and internet law.

Xiaxue is also considering further legal action, citing defamation as a possible case.

Locking her socials

In light of the situation, Xiaxue's blog and Twitter are now inaccessible.

Prior to this, her blog has already been inactive for some years, barring her most recent post titled "Raeesah Khan, GE 2020, and being labeled a Racist."

Her Twitter, on the other hand, was updated frequently.

When asked about the reason for her Twitter lockdown, Xiaxue said that she "just doesn't want to give the mob more fodder for now."

Repeating the crux of her latest blog post, she elaborated:

"I started tweeting back in 2009. Back then sensitivity levels were different and because I also had less followers, I tended to post things out of emotion which I have clarified."

Clients still keen to work with her

As for whether she thinks this saga will permanently affect her income as an influencer, Xiaxue coolly replied that this is not the first time such sagas have happened.

In past incidents, all of her clients eventually returned.

In fact, Xiaxue said, a number of current clients have expressed that they are still keen to work with her, and are waiting for this to "tide over."

"I think a lot of it also depends on my posts from here on out," she added.

The influencer also cites Covid-19 as a reason for the dip in income, and that it will be hard to tell if future earnings are affected by the saga or the pandemic.

"I started this career without money anyway and I maintain that authenticity is the most important to me. Regardless of what happens with my influencer income I still have other successful businesses to fall back on."

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