Prosecutors in Italy have opened a murder investigation into the death of a woman who was thought to have killed herself in 2016 after her leaked sex tape became a meme.
Tiziana Cantone, 31, had sent a sex video of her to an ex-boyfriend in 2015. The video was then shared to WhatsApp and various social media sites.
A sentence she says in the video, “Mi stai facendo il video? Bravo” – which translates to “You’re filming? Good” – quickly became a meme, with members of the public, including Italian companies and celebrities, sharing it for comedic purposes. It was even printed on T-shirts, smartphone cases and other items.
As a result of the online abuse, Cantone moved back with her family in Mugnano, near Naples.
She filed legal requests with social media platforms to have videos and references of her removed. She won a “right to be forgotten” ruling and had the video removed from various websites and social media platforms including Facebook. However, she had to pay €20,000 (US$24,300) in legal costs and the video had already been watched almost a million times.
She was found dead by her aunt on September 16, 2016. Her death was classified as a suicide at the time and a post-mortem was not carried out.
However, on Friday May 28, the public prosecutor’s office of north Naples said that there were inconsistencies with the original finding and that a new investigation was necessary, local outlet Rai News reported.
Prosecutors said that there were traces of DNA believed to belong to two men that were collected at the scene and have ordered for Cantone’s body to be exhumed.
The exhumation will take place in June, according to local media reports.
