Prosecutors in Naples have opened a criminal investigation after the suicide of a 31-year-old woman who had fought unsuccessfully to have a video showing her having sex expunged from the internet.

Chief prosecutor Francesco Greco says the investigation into possible charges of instigating suicide was being coordinated with another probe based on a defamation complaint the woman brought against four individuals last October.

The complaint remained open at the time of the woman’s death on Tuesday.

Her attempts to have the video removed from a series of platforms failed.

Tiziana Cantone, 31, who lived in Naples, Italy sent a video of her performing a sex act with her boyfriend to a former partner, in a move designed to taunt him.

The video was shared widely over the internet before her face went viral and she became the butt of jokes as a popular meme in Italy.

Two iconic Italian footballers, Antonio Floro Flores and Paolo Cannavaro, added to the meme’s popularity by sharing it online.

And despite Catone’s best efforts to remove the video from the internet completely, it would continuously re-emerge even though Facebook bans sexual content.

She was reportedly mercilessly ridiculed online and was even shamed by people on the street who recognised her.

Tiziana Cantone, from Naples in Italy, was filmed performing a sex act on a man before the video went viral. Photo: Instagram

Cantone was also understood to be in the process of legally changing her name and even quit her job.

It’s unclear who uploaded the footage to the internet, which first appeared in 2015, but Catone’s mother, Maria Teresa Gigolo told local media she blamed those involved.

“They destroyed my daughter, my life and the lives of an entire family,” the Corriere della Sera reported.

“Although in that cellar where she took her own life Tiziana was alone, morally to pull the noose around the neck were the ex-boyfriend, and those who took advantage.”

The video was reportedly to taunt her former partner. Photo: Instagram

Her attorney, Roberta Manzillo, has taken legal action against some of the internet search engines for sharing the sex video, while accusing other people of uploading it, according to the Daily Mail.

“We have appealed to the right-to-be-forgotten law. Facebook was immediately ordered to remove the content from its social network platform and to remove every post or publication containing images [photos and video] that refer specifically to the person,” Manzillo said.