530 Fatties, a weight-shaming Facebook page apparently created to embarrass people in Yuba and Sutter counties in California (which have the 530 area code), has been taken down after charges of cyberbullying by those whose photos unknowingly appeared on the website.
Television station KOVR-TV reported the page was disabled Monday after a reporter attempted to contact the 530 Fatties administrator. The website posted pictures of people in Yuba and Sutter counties and wrote sarcastic post about pictures in the comments section.
"Janyo is Japanese for makes you fat," reads post with a photo of what looks like a family dining inside a frozen yogurt shop on June 27, according to a screen shot from the 530 Fatties page.
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Another screenshot showed a photo of two people dressed in law enforcement uniforms in court, with a caption reading: "Got arrested for taking pictures of fat girls in public again. Look who had to let me go."
"Cyberbullying — bullying period — it needs to stop. It needs to stop," Jessi Lynn Howell, 18, told the television station after finding her picture on the site. "So I’m going to be a voice today for those people that don't have that voice."
Howell told KOVR-TV that the picture of her used on the 530 Fatties Facebook page was taken back in October when she was 50 pounds heavier. She said had struggled with her weight because of medical problems but is now using medication to lose weight.
"It's really hurtful and it's really embarrassing," Howell said of the Facebook site. "I know it's probably someone from around here, and whoever it is they need to stop because that's ridiculous."
Howell found one supporter in
Alanna Nunez of Shape magazine, who wrote on its website that the Facebook page was of out of bounds.
"If Howell's quotes were Facebook comments, we'd 'like' a thousand times over," Nunez wrote. "We can't believe that this doesn't go without saying, but here's to hoping this can serve as your friendly neighborhood reminder that a) mocking people about their weight is never okay, and b) neither is cyber-bullying (or any type of bullying, for that matter)."
KOVR-TV reported that a 2013 UCLA study found that Yuba and Sutter counties were above the state average obesity rate of 22 percent. Yuba had a 30 percent rate and Sutter 28 percent.
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