From the beginning,Lil Tay's online presence has had people wondering what to believe.
Lil Tay first garnered attention in 2018 when a girl claimingto be a nine-year-old living the high life in Hollywood posted videos filled with profanities, insults and boasting. It was later learned she was living in Vancouver, the daughter of a lawyer and real estate agent.
Five years later, more serious questions have emerged. Earlier this week a message on Lil Tay'slong-dormant verifiedInstagram accountclaimed she and her brotherhad died.
The postspread across social media withmore than a few readersquestioning whether the claims werereal or fake.
Even amongskeptics, there were concerns for her well-being.
The story of Lil Tay is a house of mirrors with few confirmed details. Itcould be a story of the tragic death of two young people. It could be about a young personseeking attention, or people seeking profit, or someonebeing manipulated by others behind the scenes. It could also be a story of someone targeted by a hacker.
Lil Tay's story also highlights, experts say, how social media can negatively affect younger viewersand how greater digital literacy is needed to help them separate fact from fiction.
"I just have so many questions and I don't think anyone's going to get answers to those anytime soon," saidLindsay Sealey, CEO of Bold New Girls, which provides teaching, consulting and mentoring for girls.
What we know about LilTay
The whirlwind of posts began Wednesday morning before 9 a.m. PT, with an unattributed Instagram statement that announcedLil Tay's"sudden and tragic passing." The post announced her brother, Jason, also died.
In 2018, Instagram had verified to CBC News that her parent managed the account, but it's not clear who does now or who made the post.
"This outcome was entirely unexpected and has left us all in shock," read the post to her 3.3 million followers. 'Her brother's passing adds an even more unimaginable depth to our grief."
Within minutes, some culture sites, along with international and B.C.media were repeating news about the viral star's death, citing the Instagram post as "the family confirms."
But any attempts to confirm that, with calls or emails to her parents, her former manager, or law enforcementyielded no such certainty.CBC News could not immediately reach Lil Tay's mother by phone.
The post said her death is still under investigation, but when CBC News contacted the Vancouver Police Department, Burnaby RCMP, B.C. Coroners Service, and the Los Angeles County coroner where Lil Tay was reported to have lived in the last five years, they had no information.
"We are not aware and are not investigating," wrote Vancouver police in an emailed statement.
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Her former manager said he'd seen the post, but couldn't "confirm or dismiss" its legitimacy. Without any confirmation of the death, CBCdid not report onit, but continued to work on confirming details, including requests for information from Global Affairs Canada and Interpol.
As the day wore on, amid all the "RIP Lil Tay" posts on X, formerly Twitter, some fans were crying "sus" — doubting it was real — along with reporters who had gotten nowhere with efforts to confirm.
By Thursday, theoriginal statement was removed from Instagram, andTMZ was reporting that it received a statement Lil Tay is alive and she claimsher account had been hacked.
That version of events has also not been confirmed.
Social media posts can affect audience
If the teen issafe, the mystery may appear to be just another round of misinformation — ora hoax — on the internet.
But Sealey of Bold New Girlssays it can have impacts in the real world, and it's important to consider how a story like Lil Tay's could affecta younger audience.
"There are people who are going through sadnessor anxiety or depressionand they hear about someone who they respect and follow on social media has died, orhas some tragedy in their life, I think that could really negatively impact them," Sealey said.
She sayssocial media users, whether they have three million followers or just three followers, shouldconsider how their posts can affect their audience.
"On social media, I think there's often this sense that it's no big deal. No one really cares. It doesn't matter what I put out there or post," she said.
"I think all of us can do a better job of being very sensitive and very aware of what it is that we're posting and putting out there, and how that could affect anyone else."
Need for greater regulation, digital literacy: expert
The jarring juxtaposition of a young child spewing foul language helped propel Lil Tay to internet fame and notoriety, but amid all the controversy and confusion, it's easy to forget there is a real person at the centre of the story.
It's a story tailor-made to draw attention online, says Jesse Miller, a B.C.-based social media expert who educates kids on internet safety.
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He saysLil Tay'srise to fame in 2018 put the focus on how"parents or families may exploit their children in the presence of the rise of social media."
He arguesthat young internet stars should be subject to regulation similar to those applied to child actors in television and films.
"We should look more and more at the idea that the rise of Internet culture and internet promotion allows parents to actually make money off their children where there isn't really a lot of government oversight or employer oversight," Miller said. "Just like Hollywood, maybe we should start exploring that."
The allure of Lil Tay's profanity-laced rants can be compounded bythe lack of details about her as online sleuthstryto parse any detail, no matter how small, to determine what's going on behind the scenes.
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Miller notes that online sleuthing can take a dark turn, as when users on Redditincorrectly speculated onthe identity of the attacker or attackersin the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings.
Miller, whohas given presentations on digital literacy at B.C. schools for more than 15 years, says education is key.He says it's also important for parents to talkwith children about what they watch online and make sure they don't fall down internet rabbit holes.
"We actually need to haveroundtable conversations, the dinner table conversation ... What type of contentis appropriate for the family home and then having really healthy conversations about that content."
It remains unclear where Lil Tay is, how she's doing, and who posted the Instagram statement that sparked global speculation about the teenage girl — and why.
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