Savanna Young
The notorious ‘snark’ account, which is run by an anonymous user believed to be a Melbourne PR worker in her twenties, corrects the bad spelling of influencers and reality stars and often spreads salacious gossip.
Now a bizarre and false new conspiracy has been circulating, claiming the account is being run and managed by country music singer Keith Urban.
The rumours began after fellow snark account Aussie Influencer Opinions responded to a fan in a Q+A that they believe Nicole Kidman‘s husband is ‘100 per cent’ running the Instagram page.
Several followers replied to Aussie Influencer Opinions in shock and surprise.
‘WTF mind blown,’ one user wrote, while others replied, ‘Wait what?’
The account then shared to their story that ‘Keith Urban celeb spellcheck’ is the second option that pops up when simply searching the name ‘Keith’ on TikTok.
Celeb Spellcheck has built up a huge following over the past few years for calling out notable Australian influencers, celebrities and reality stars.
More recently, the account simply posts nostalgic pop culture throwbacks, fashion trends and celebrity romances from the 2000s and 2010s.
But in the past the admin has shared scandalous moments from influencers, including a video of former Bachelor star Laurina Fleure snorting a white substance off a counter top during a party.
They have also accused model Steph Claire Smith of having a breast enlargement and questioned mummy blogger Sophie Cachia’s movements during Melbourne’s COVID-19 lockdown.
As a result of its content, several influencers and reality stars have publicly condemned the account and accused it of ‘bullying’.
However, a top Sydney lawyer has claimed that successfully suing an account like Celeb Spellcheck for defamation would be almost impossible.
Speaking to the Outspoken podcast, employment and media lawyer John Laxon explained that it’s very difficult to prosecute someone hiding behind an anonymous Instagram account.
‘[Social media platforms] aren’t ever going to volunteer who’s behind [accounts like Celeb Spellcheck]. You need to use court procedures to compel the platforms to tell you,’ he said.
‘It’s really difficult when you’re up against multinational platforms like Google or Facebook,’ he added, adding that such legal proceedings are both very expensive and time-consuming.
Even if you manage to identify the anonymous user behind accounts like Celeb Spellcheck, they may not even be worth suing if they don’t have any assets, Mr Laxon added.
‘What if it’s a teenager operating out of their bedroom? There’s no point suing someone who has no assets, because you’re not going to be able to get anything out of them when you do,’ he said.
Mr Laxon also pointed out another challenge – proving that the post is actually defamatory (in that it would harm someone’s reputation) and also untrue.
If post is true it can’t be defamatory, so it stands to reason that simply reposting someone else’s typos may not fall under the definition of defamation.
‘So, assuming that you’ve identified the person, then you need to be absolutely sure that you’ve been defamed and that what they’ve published is defamatory and untrue,’ he said.
‘If a publisher is easily going to be able to rely on the truth defence, a person would be crazy to sue in defamation,’ he said.
Mr Laxon noted that a ‘photo typically speaks for itself’, so simply reposting an undoctored image or video of a celebrity would fall under the ‘truth’ defence.
In 2021, Celeb Spellcheck revealed that a celebrity once tried to sue her for defamation for uploading a video of them ‘taking drugs’, insinuating that the celebrity’s attempt was unsuccessful.
‘They said it was her ‘acne medication’ lol,’ she added wryly.
On March 20, Celeb Spellcheck shocked its loyal followers by deleting its archive of content following a wave of backlash from influencers and reality stars.
In a message to their followers on March 20, 2021, the admin shut down rumours they were facing lawsuits or that their identity was on the brink of being exposed.
Instead, they said they were taking a break to figure out the future of the account.
After ensuring fans they were ‘completely fine’, the account’s owner explained their sudden decision to wipe the profile.
The person behind the account admitted they were considering whether or not to reveal their identity and if they should monetise the page or not.
They also said they were pondering whether to ‘dabble in gossip’ moving forward.
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