'I take full responsibility for my recent mistake': TikTok influencer and tutor Brooke Lim says sorry for plagiarism in blog essay
Ms Brooke Lim, 19, known as @sugaresque on TikTok, said her plagiarised essay was not monetised. PHOTO: ST FILE
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PUBLISHED ONApril 25, 2023 1:05 PMByStephanie Yeo
SINGAPORE – TikTok influencer and General Paper (GP) tutor Brooke Lim, 19, has apologised for plagiarism in a blog essay.
The allegations were posted in a Google document and publicised on TikTok last week under the account @sugaresqueessay.
According to the document, Ms Lim published an essay titled On Being Afraid Of Eating on her blog, Grayscale Copy, on April 18. She also shared it on her Telegram channel.
She is better known as @sugaresque on social media where she has more than 183,000 followers. It was previously reported that her tuition agency, Classicle Club, chalked up a six-figure profit in six months in 2022.
The document claims that “over 70 per cent of the original essay is not her original work”. It details the instances of plagiarism from five books and eight articles.
The unnamed authors of the document state that they have eating disorders and read books about the condition, which is why they noticed the plagiarised text. They also claim that after they messaged her anonymously, she did not respond, but removed the plagiarised portions.
Ms Lim subsequently apologised in a TikTok video on Monday.
@sugaresque ♬ original sound - Brooke
The tutor, who says she received death threats on social media following the incident, said in a statement to The Straits Times: “I take full responsibility for my recent mistake of plagiarising a segment in a personal blog post written in a personal capacity.
“The essay was not for profit, academic assignment, or publication, and I apologise to my followers, students, readers and the authors of the works I plagiarised from. I have since taken down the essay and am open to any suggestions on how to make things right.”
She also posted another video on the same day, refuting allegations by Ms Jiabao Ge – who shares GP tips on social media under the handle @gejiabao – that she had copied Ms Ge’s ideas and content.
Meanwhile, a petition to the University of California, Los Angeles, to review Ms Lim’s admissions essay for plagiarism has garnered almost 700 signatures.
This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.