Tattle Life: How a gossip website ended up in court

This episode was originally published in June 2025.

Tattle Life is a gossip site that many will have never heard of until a landmark defamation trial in Belfast in June 2025.

Donna and Neil Sands bought a defamation case against the site – and won. They were each awarded £150,000 (€176,000) in damages, with the court saying their costs should also be covered.

The married couple who live in Northern Ireland said that cruel, untrue and hateful anonymous postings over several years on the site left them fearing for their safety, their businesses and their relationships and impacted on their mental health.

Award-winning journalist Aoife Moore knows exactly how the Sands feel. She too has been the victim of an onslaught of online abuse on Tattle Life, with entirely untrue gossip spread about her personal and professional life.

She tells In the News how that impacted on her and what the defamation case means for her. And while this is the first successful defamation case against the gossip site, she says it will not be the last.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.

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