Clara “Keffals” Sorrenti is among a growing number of content creators who have fallen victim to swatting attempts in recent weeks. And as a trans rights activist and political commentator, her experience over the past week has been particularly harrowing.
As Keffals detailed in a six-minute video on YouTube, she was woken up last Friday, August 5, by police who believed she was in possession of an illegal firearm and intended to carry out a mass shooting in the city of London, Ontario.
Her arrest that morning came because someone posing as her sent a message to police claiming to be her while at the same time using the dead name of Keffals (a term used to denote a person’s birth name). to describe who changes her name after a gender change).
In response to Keffals’ story going viral, Canada’s New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh posted on social media today in support of Keffals. As part of the post, Singh directly condemned the doxxing and swatting files. Signh also directly mentioned Keffals in the tweet, which prompted a response from Keffals himself.
The fact that one of the leaders of the parties currently ruling Canada is speaking out about me and showing support gives me hope. Swatting should become a national conversation in Canada and being terrorized by the police shouldn’t happen to other Canadians. https://t.co/UHmvFjwNsf
— Keffals (@keffals) August 11, 2022
“The fact that one of the leaders of the parties that currently govern Canada is speaking out about me and showing support gives me hope,” she said. “Swatting should be a national conversation in Canada, and being terrorized by the police shouldn’t happen to other Canadians.”
Yesterday, Canada-based publication Global News ran a story with an interview with Keffals, and she has since pinned images of some of her comments to Twitter, some of which are particularly hostile towards anyone who has tried to impersonate her.
“If you want me to stop, next time you better manipulate the police into pulling the trigger,” she told Global News.
Swatting has long been an issue in the online streaming community, and Keffals’ issue is one of many that have surfaced in just the past week. Some of the more high-profile streamers who have had to deal with police encounters over the past week due to swatting include Adin Ross and YouTuber IShowSpeed.