ORLANDO, Fla. – A 5-year student at the University of Central Florida told News 6 his reputation was ruined after racial slurs linked to his name went viral reaching “about 1 million people.”
“Alex” Bugay said the racially charged posts on X (formerly Twitter) were directed at Georgia State Rep. Mesha Mainor after she announced she was joining the Republican party this past July. But he said the account wasn’t his.
“I just didn’t know how to react and I was scared,” Bugay told News 6. “I think there are a lot of lessons we can learn from an incident like this.”
The posts, too vulgar for print, included Bugay’s name, email, and phone number.
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Mainor reposted the messages, and that triggered a wave of criticism against Bugay on X. Mainor later investigated the posts and determined Bugay had nothing to do with it.
Mainor posted in part: “I apologize to Alex for the harm this may have caused him.”
Bugay’s father, Florida attorney Scott Bugay, told News 6 they think existing federal law should be amended to include protection of a person’s reputation.
“As parents, it’s devastating for us to watch our son’s reputation be tarnished,” he said. “The (federal) statute should make absolutely clear reputation is a form of identity theft.”
The current Federal Law 18 USC 1028 does not address the protection of a person’s reputation on social media, or the internet.
After seeing News 6′s report on the student’s dilemma, Florida Congressman Darren Soto agreed to work on changing the law, discussing Bugay’s story at a hearing on Capitol Hill on Thursday.
“What rights and causes of action do you believe are just to protect citizens from identity theft?” Soto said. “What should we do to help out a constituent like Mr. Bugay?”
Meanwhile, Dr. Mary Anne Franks, a professor at George Washington University Law School, explained that impersonation laws are currently “very, very narrow.”
“They mostly apply to people who are government officials or police officers or someone who’s a medical personnel,” she said. “The average citizen doesn’t have much to go on when someone is impersonating them.”
If you have an issue involving identity theft email makeendsmeet@wkmg.com or text the words make ends meet along with the issue and your contact information to 407-676-7428.
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