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Mackenzie Byrne says dozens of posts have used her children’s photos alongside graphic threats. Other families nationwide have reported similar harassment.
FINDLAY, Ohio — An Ohio mom says she’s living in fear after discovering a series of disturbing social media posts threatening her children – and she may not be alone.
One of the messages, tagged directly to Mackenzie Byrne’s account on Oct. 23, read: “I will harvest their organs and it will taste like milk and cookies.”
Byrne says she thought it was a mistake at first, until the user responded it wasn’t.
“Those are my kids in that photo. There must be a mistake,” Byrne says she wrote to the poster.
He said, ‘They won’t be for very much longer, there was no mistake,’” according to Byrne. “And I thought, OK, that was a threat.”
Over the next week, Byrne says more posts began appearing — many using photos of her children pulled from her Facebook and Instagram accounts, some marked with red X’s over their faces.
She says other families across the country have reported similar harassment.
“This is full-blown cyberstalking and something needs to be done about it,” Byrne said.
Byrne says she went to local police, but officers told her there was little they could do beyond filing a report.
She also contacted TikTok, but says the platform only removes individual accounts and new ones appear almost immediately.
“Thousands, if not millions, of people are reporting this,” she said. “TikTok finds no violation.”
As the dates referenced in the posts draw closer — including Oct. 31, Nov. 1 and Nov. 4 — Byrne says she’s taking extra precautions and fears for her safety.
She has since hired independent cybersecurity specialists to trace the source of the posts. She says the stalker’s IP address appears to originate in the state of Oregon, though VPNs can make it difficult to confirm.
Byrne says the ordeal has completely changed how she uses social media and she’s urging other parents to rethink posting their children’s photos online or to use filters to hide their faces.
“This has been a game-changer for me,” she said. “I’m scared for my life.”
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