Doxxed transgender activist, Twitch streamer leaving Canada due to ongoing threats

Transgender activist and Twitch streamer, Clara Sorrenti is seen in this undated file image. (File)

The woman at the centre of a swatting incident involving the London Police Service says she is being forced to leave the country due to ongoing harassment and threats to her life.

Taking to Twitter on Sunday and sharing with her 128,000 followers, Clara Sorrenti — also known online as Keffals — wrote, "One of my accounts was hacked and I have been doxxed again. I'm leaving the continent in less than a week."

Sorrenti is a transgender activist and popular Twitch streamer. Earlier this month, Sorrenti was targeted by online trolls who pretended to be her and emailed fake threats to London City Hall, in an incident known as “swatting.”

During the ordeal, heavily armed police attended her residence in downtown London, Ont.

“I thought I was going to die,” Sorrenti told CTV News London on Aug. 9. “As soon as I saw the rifle I screamed.”

Sorrenti was arrested during the swatting incident and had her phone and two computers seized, but she was later released from police custody, and her belongings were returned to her days later.

"Swatting" involves making a false threat that will draw a large tactical police response to an unsuspecting victim’s home.

At the time of the incident, London police used Sorrenti’s deadname — which refers to the birth name of a transgender person — and her incorrect gender. London Police Chief Steve Williams later issued an apology for how the incident was handled.

Clara Sorrenti collects computer equipment released by London Police after an alleged incident of swatting (Daryl Newcombe/CTV News London)Fearing for her safety, Sorrenti is currently in hiding and has moved to a second location after hackers found out where she was staying. Sorrenti recently told CTV News London that she has started to receive anonymous death threats.

Sorrenti has been doxxed twice this month alone, the most recent occurrence happening after someone hacked her Uber account and ordered at least $500 worth of food.

It was this latest incident — and the ongoing threats to her life — that convinced her to leave the country.

“And this is why, especially after getting swatted, getting doxxed could be a death sentence for me,” Sorrenti said while livestreaming on Sunday. “I don’t want to die, but there are people who want me to die and are willing to put the wheels in motion to make that happen. And that’s why I’m just leaving the continent right now.”

While she is leaving Canada within the week, she isn’t permanently moving to a new country, and will instead be travelling around for awhile.

Sorrenti said people have told her to keep her head down and not talk about the incident, but it doesn’t make things better.

“I’ve tried not talking about it, I’ve tried being quiet for months, and … I suffer in silence,” she said. “I am never going to back down.”

During her recent livestream, Sorrenti said she’s not giving up on streaming forever, and will eventually start streaming again once she arrives safely at her new location.

“All I wanted to do was stream on Twitch, and they tried to take that away from me,” she said.

Streaming is not only her livelihood, but it gives her a platform to share her message and connect with a community that “means everything” to her.

“I’ve seen people come out to their families because of this community, I’ve seen people say this community is the only place they feel comfortable talking about being trans,” she said. “This community has given them an outlet to be themselves.”

“They want to push us back in the closet. They want to do everything they can to build a future where we don’t exist,” she said. “I want there to be a point in the future where I don’t have to worry constantly about being harassed in this way.”

— With files from CTV News London’s Daryl Newcombe and CTVNews.ca’s Alexandra Mae Jones