When Scarlett London decorated her room and posed for an Instagram photo on her bed one morning, she had no idea she would be bombarded with abusive messages and death threats from strangers, forcing her to passionately defend herself.

The photo, which Scarlett originally clarified was a promotional post for Listerine mouthwash, depicts the 24-year-old grinning on her bed clutching a cup of tea, surrounded by helium balloons with a stack of pancakes on the bed, captioned: “The best of days start with a smile and positive thoughts. And pancakes. And strawberries. And bottomless tea”.

While seemingly innocent, Instagram users were angered by the fact the 24-year-old was wearing makeup in the photo shared with her 44.6k followers, taking to the comments section to berate her.

“It’s images like this that give young girls false impressions of life and unrealistic expectations of how they expect to be treated,” one commented.

“Why do people think you have to be fake to get likes and follows lol,” another wrote.

On Twitter, user Ryan Austin said he “hopes she steps on Lego”:

That mug is empty and those pancakes look more like tortilla wraps to me, I hope she steps on a Lego when she hops off that stupid bed with her own photo on it

— Ryan Austin (@Evoryan3) September 1, 2018

Many were critical of the props used in the photo, pointing out the stack of pancakes appeared to be a stack of tortillas.

“This is so ridiculous on so many levels. Everything in this pic is ridiculous and hella FAKE. I don’t know from where to start the tortillas or the product placement? #StrawberriesFajitas,” one person wrote.

“Have you seen such a level of fake? This makes me want to delete all social media. Tortilla pancakes hahahha,” said another.

Scarlett, who has used her Instagram feed to speak out about her digestive problems and describes herself as “a 20 something-year-old woman trying to make her way in the world”, revealed in a second post that these comments were just the tip of the iceberg, as she was inundated with “hundreds of nasty messages” following the original post.

“In the last 48 hours, grown men & women, MP’s, women’s equality representatives, journalists, actresses and broadcasters have discovered my Instagram feed and decided to pick it apart online, in front of thousands,” the post began.

“Each time I refresh my page, hundreds of new nasty messages pour onto my Instagram, Twitter and YouTube, some of which have contained malicious death threats.

“There are now hundreds of thousands of tweets circling the internet, shaming me.”

Lifting the lid on a side of Instagram influencers we rarely see in her candid statement, Scarlett admitted to being paid for some content, and urged social media users to remember she is “just a human being”.

“Yes, I do adverts on here, but only with brands I genuinely use and would spend money on myself. My feed isn’t a place of reality (let’s talk about Exhibit A – above – I mean who spends their time in such a beautiful city, perched on a ledge, ice-cream in hand and smile permanently affixed to her face, it’s staged guys),” she joked.

“Those who follow me will know my reality. I try to raise awareness for the digestive condition I suffer from, the same condition that years ago threatened me graduating from university.

“My Instagram has been an outlet to show you can be positive and have fun with life, despite this condition.”

She also apologised for “making anyone feel inadequate”.

“And I am wholeheartedly sorry if I’ve ever made anyone feel inadequate through my content. My life mission is quite the opposite. I am a strong 24-year-old woman who has experienced bullying in the past.

“I am and will be okay after this hideous experience. But another young girl or guy as the subject of a targeted hate campaign might not be okay. Please remember at the centre of of every viral storm is a human being.”