• Last week, the #PlaneBae saga went viral on social media, as one Rosey Blair documented on social media what seemed to be a love connection between two strangers sitting in front of her on an airplane.

• Blair has apologized to the strangers for violating their privacy. She also deleted the original #PlaneBae Twitter thread, including all the photos of them she took. 

• Blair has come under intense criticism for the #PlaneBae posts from pundits and a wave of people on social media. 

• While #PlaneBae himself, former pro soccer player Euan Holden, has embraced his newfound celebrity, the woman involved deleted all of her social media accounts after it went viral in a bid for anonymity.

Rosey Blair, The woman behind the #PlaneBae social media phenomenon has apologized for "taking what should have been a small mundane moment of cheeriness and turning it into something foul and over-amplified," and deleted the viral Twitter thread that propelled her to internet fame last week.

"When I made this and shared it, I was happy, joyful and overcome with authentic and sincere excitement. So much so that I could not see the potential exploitative nature of the outcome and my actions," she wrote.

Martin Rottler/flickr

Blair is referring to a series of now-deleted social media posts, tagged with #PlaneBae, in which she documented what she presented as a love connection between two strangers sitting in front of her on an airplane — complete with photos, videos and descriptions of the couple's every move.

Within 48 hours, Blair's story and the #PlaneBae hashtag was being covered on cable news all over the country. The #PlaneBae himself, former pro soccer player Euan Holden, even went on the Today Show to talk about it.

However, the young woman in the thread has so far avoided the public eye, and deleted all of her social media accounts. At the same time, Blair faced a rush of criticism from pundits and social media users who said that the whole #PlaneBae saga was an undue violation of the people's privacy.

Blair addressed this in her apology, expressing regret for her actions.

"The last thing I want to do is remove agency and autonomy from another woman. I wish I could communicate the shame I feel in having done this, but I truly feel that at this point my feelings are irrelevent."

The apology comes days after Blair posted a now-deleted video, acknowledging that the woman in the photos did not wish to be identified, but encouraging "sneaky" Twitter users to find her social accounts and publicly identify her anyway. Business Insider viewed the video before its deletion.

Blair declined to comment beyond her public apology.

You can read her full apology here:

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See Also:

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• The viral #PlaneBae story is raising some serious questions about how creepy social media can be

• Twitter reportedly suspended over 70 million accounts in May and June to fight its misinformation problem

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