They say imitation is the highest form of flattery, but for this TikTok creator, it was a waking nightmare.
Disability activist Grace Wolstenholme has 1.3 million TikTok followers. Like many creators, she has taken a multi-platform approach to her content.
The only problem is that a popular Facebook page purporting to be her was stealing all her content. And what makes it worse is that, according to her, Facebook took no action for five months.
In an interview with The Guardian, Grace said she first came across the account in January 2024. But she claims that after reporting the account to Facebook, nothing was done until May.
The fraudulent account was registered as a creator account. This means that the posts stolen from Grace’s TikTok and Instagram could be monetized when posted.
What happened to Grace Wolstenholme’s account?
When she reported the fraud to the police, Grace says she was advised to stop posting. But this, she added, led to “quite a bit of a financial loss.”
In addition to reporting the account to Facebook, Grace says she also reported the account to the police twice. She reported it once in January, and once in March.
According to Grace, the police advised her to report the account to UK fraud watchdog Action Fraud, which she did in April. A month later, the watchdog said they could not “identify a line of inquiry which a law enforcement organisation in the United Kingdom could pursue.”
In a statement to The Guardian, Grace added that TikTok isn’t just her job, but a “distraction from her mental health” and a platform for her activism.
“I tried my best to let people know that the Facebook page is not me by posting daily Instagram stories about it and telling everyone to report the page,” Wolstenholme said. “I even posted a video on TikTok telling everyone: ‘The Facebook page is not me, they are stealing my content, please report it.’”
