Cafe dispute leads to social media uproar

SOUTH PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- B2 Cafe owner Nancy Trachtenberg and her staff got an alarming lesson of what happens when they are the targets of something negative and it goes viral on social media.

"The B2 Facebook page was being bombarded with bad reviews," said Trachtenberg.

It all began on Tuesday night when a South Philadelphia woman, her 3-year-old daughter, who's battling cancer, and a friend visited the cafe in the 1600 block of East Passyunk.

The 3-year-old was playing music on a cell phone that apparently was too loud, causing a server to visit their table. What happened next is in dispute.

"She had asked the people to turn off the cell phone," said Trachtenberg.

But the mother of the child, who declined to speak with us on camera, went on Facebook and claims the server grabbed the phone out of the child's hands and said, "I don't want to listen to your music right now."

The post went viral with more than 400 shares, mostly by people outraged that someone would allegedly do that a cancer-stricken child.

A number of people threatened violence and, later that night, someone indeed entered the cafe threatening the server with physical harm.

Trachtenberg showed us video of the incident. It shows the server going to the table, saying a few words and waving her hand, but never touching the child or the phone.

In the video, the server can be seen leaving and a woman with her back to the camera is seen taking the phone from the child.

Trachtenberg posted the video on the cafe's Facebook page:

"Since it was spiraling out of control and further away from the truth, I decided to give them the proof that they absolutely deserve," said Trachtenberg.

The child's mother later admitted to us by phone that no one at the table actually saw the server touch the child or the phone because it happened so fast.

She now points to threats she's received on the Internet and some people calling her kids ugly.

For her part, Trachtenberg says her employees are also in fear and bared witness to the ugly and terrifying side of social media.

"It's very difficult to imagine what it would be like to be in the shoes of a person who is suffering from what happens when a lie can go viral," said Trachtenberg.