After 14-year-old Keira Gross was murdered in Berlin, the far right pounced. They spread rumours and misinformation online, blaming the crime on a Muslim immigrant from Chechnya who they dubbed “The Beast of the Caucasus”. One key activist, Lutz Bachmann of the anti-Islam group Pegida, even identified a boy who he said was the murderer, and posted his details with a link to his Facebook profile. However, there was a problem: the rumours were wrong. It emerged that Keira was not murdered by a Mus...
Feb 08, 2019•24 min
Carrie Goldberg’s life changed when an ex-boyfriend threatened to post naked pictures and videos of her online. She was already practicing as a lawyer, but quit her job to start her own firm and give her clients - as she puts it - “the lawyer I needed when I was going through hell.” When she began in 2014, there were few laws against what is now known as “revenge porn” – the non-consensual sharing of explicit photos online. Now many countries and US states have passed anti-revenge porn laws. Mov...
Feb 01, 2019•23 min
Caroline Calloway built a huge audience on Instagram by posting fairy tale pictures of life as a university student in England, mixing romance and adventure with a dash of personal revelation and grit. But she recently found herself on the receiving end of a wave of abuse after she cancelled a tour of “creativity workshops”. It’s prompted a discussion about influencers – social media stars who have a lot of cultural clout and can often make a lot of money. But what happens when they let down the...
Jan 28, 2019•24 min
In June 2017 more than 70 children arrived at a university campus in Indiana, US. They were there to take part in a nutrition study that examined the effects of diet and sodium reduction on blood pressure and cholesterol in adolescents. But the experiment swiftly came to a halt when a video was posted online of what was going on at the Camp. As a result, the multi-million dollar nutrition study was terminated. We travel to the US to speak to the children who participated in the study, their pare...
Jan 18, 2019•23 min
At the start of October some users of a music-streaming platform found that their accounts were playing songs against their wishes. Artists like the Bergenulo Five and DJ Bruej were streamed thousands of times, with Spotify users claiming the music was forced onto them. Apart from the listings on the streaming platforms, the musicians had next to no digital footprint on the rest of the internet - no fan pages, no concert listings and no photos of the actual band members. So who was behind the st...
Jan 11, 2019•24 min
We meet investigators looking into social media manipulation and the people behind the Hamilton 68 project, which monitors suspected Russian accounts. Two reports recently prepared for US Senate investigators detailed extensive Russian efforts to influence major social networks. Trending travels to Texas to meet the people behind one of the reports at New Knowledge, a company that was involved in the development of the “Hamilton 68 dashboard” – a running tally of hashtags and other information o...
Jan 04, 2019•36 min
Russian pensions, football in Africa, jihadi propaganda – these are among the stories, trends, and conversations that are to shape social media in 2019. To find out more, Marco Silva talks to BBC colleagues who watch social media around the world. What stories and conversations will they be following online in the year ahead? Presenter: Marco Silva Sound engineer: Rod Farquhar Photo caption: a man holds a smartphone with the icons for various social networking apps seen on the screen. Photo cred...
Dec 28, 2018•23 min
A look at BBC Trending’s highlights from the past year of covering social media. From America’s student anti-gun movement to the continuing noise made by #MeToo activists, social media played a huge role in some of the biggest political movements of the year. And of course the World Cup was drenched in tweets and hashtags - plus, we visit the gaming team with an average age of 67. All that and more, in our roundup of the year on social media as seen by BBC Trending. Presenter: Mike Wendling Prod...
Dec 21, 2018•24 min
YouTube has deleted thousands of videos after a BBC Trending investigation. Seven months after we initially broke the story of essay-writing services advertised by top YouTubers, we found that the problem is bigger than ever, and academic cheating companies like EduBirdie have now moved on to other platforms like Snapchat, Facebook and Google. After alerting the tech giants of our findings, YouTube and Facebook took direct action and removed some of the content promoting essay writing companies....
Dec 14, 2018•23 min
Instagram’s search function does not always shield people at risk of eating disorders from seeing potentially harmful posts. A Trending investigation has found that although the site has filters in place to make the most obvious eating disorder-related hashtags unsearchable, misspellings allow people to navigate around the restrictions. And health warnings do not always pop up when users type in search terms that could lead them to some very extreme content. We hear from people who have suffered...
Dec 07, 2018•23 min
A shadowy website spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on political adverts on Facebook and other networks. But the people behind “Mainstream Network” have managed to remain entirely anonymous. No-one knows who runs the site and its social media accounts, where their money is coming from, or what their motivation is. We investigate their operation - just as Facebook faces tough questions about their role in preserving the integrity of elections around the world. Presenter: Mike Wendling Report...
Nov 30, 2018•23 min
We investigate the criminals who threaten to expose you on social media, using password hacking. Imagine you open your email and there’s a message in there from someone that knows some of your personal information – like your laptop password. Not only that, but they’re threatening to reveal your darkest secrets on social media, unless you pay a ransom in anonymous cryptocurrency. That’s been happening to people all over the world - including our reporter Jo Whalley. Jo finds out how cyber crimin...
Nov 23, 2018•23 min
How a viral rumour on WhatsApp led to the lynching of two innocent men in Mexico. Ricardo Flores and his uncle Alberto were building a well. They set out to buy some supplies, but as it was a warm August day, they decided to take a break along the way. Within hours they were arrested and lynched – beaten and burnt to death by a ferocious mob. Rumours which spread on WhatsApp falsely accused the men of being child kidnappers. And before anyone could stop the residents of Acatlan, a small town in ...
Nov 16, 2018•22 min
Hundreds of suicides were linked to the Blue Whale Challenge – but what is the truth behind the claims? The challenge was described as an online game, where participants were given 50 tasks to perform over 50 days. A report in independent Russian news outlet Novaya Gazeta linked the game to 130 teenage suicides, and a 21-year-old man who was arrested in a case related to the challenge pleaded guilty and is currently in a Russian prison. But others are sceptical that the challenge can definitivel...
Nov 09, 2018•23 min
The conclusion of our story about two men on opposing sides in the war against misinformation. Fake news writer Christopher Blair finds that the money is drying up because of Facebook algorithm changes, and he’s constantly being hunted by fact-checkers. Meanwhile in Belgium, Maarten Schenk gets a handle on viral misinformation and online lies. It seems like they would be natural enemies. So what happens when they get the chance to speak to each other? Presenter: Michael Wendling Reporter/Produce...
Nov 02, 2018•24 min
Anisa Subedar meets two men positioned on opposing sides in the war against fake news. American Christopher Blair makes his living by making up online news stories, and Belgian Maarten Schenk is dedicated to debunking them. The two appear to be natural rivals, but is everything as it first seems? Presenter: Michael Wendling Reporter: Anisa Subedar (Photo: Fake News headline typed with a typewriter. Credit: Getty Images)
Oct 26, 2018•23 min
A protest against “manspreading” went viral in Russia – but is it Russian propaganda? Activist Anna Dovgalyuk denies that she staged a stunt where a woman was filmed throwing diluted bleach at the crotches of men whose legs were sprawled out over multiple seats on the St Petersburg Metro. But media reports suggested one of the men was an actor, and a European Union website has described the film as “staged Kremlin propaganda”. So, is it real or just a hoax? And how does it fit into a larger patt...
Oct 19, 2018•23 min
In Bristol, in the south-west of England, motorbike theft is rife, and criminals use social media to brag about their exploits and even extort money from their victims. But some bikers, sick of losing their treasured possessions, have started to take matters into their own hands. They’ve formed a Facebook group to try to hunt down stolen motorbikes. And using the tips from group members, they try to hunt down the stolen motorbikes and reunite them with their owners. But will their plan work? Pre...
Oct 12, 2018•23 min
They decide what you can and can’t see on the world’s biggest social network. Who are Facebook’s content moderators? We speak to a woman who worked in a moderation centre in Germany, often watching violent and pornographic videos and deciding what posts should be deleted. What do people who police content think of what support Facebook gives employees, and what are their daily working lives actually like? Presenter: Anisa Subedar Reporter: Jamie Bartlett Producer: Gemma Newby Studio Manager: Tom...
Oct 05, 2018•23 min
The BBC investigative team Africa Eye used open-source techniques to find out who was responsible for a shocking crime. In July 2018, a horrifying video began to circulate on social media. It shows two women and two young children being led away at gunpoint by a group of soldiers. The captives are blindfolded, forced to the ground and shot 22 times. The government of Cameroon initially dismissed the video as “fake news.” But through open-source investigation – examining details such as buildings...
Sep 28, 2018•23 min
Do dieting influencers and communities help or hurt when you’re trying to get in shape? If you’re trying to lose weight you might have tried out exercise tips and diet recipes you’ve seen online. Some find social media groups a useful source of support, but there are concerns that some of the advice might not be as healthy as it seems, and that social media celebrities are setting unhelpful and unrealistic body expectations. So how can you cut through all the noise, and which social networks mig...
Sep 21, 2018•23 min
Why are some Russians put on extremist watch lists for saving or posting memes online? Maria Motuznaya was investigated by police after saving edgy memes on her account on the social network VKontakte. They showed a character from the series Game of Thrones and smoking nuns, and in at least one case, a racial slur. She’s not alone. Maria and hundreds of Russians are being placed on an extremist watch list for using memes declared to be racist, offensive or against the Russian Orthodox Church. Pe...
Sep 14, 2018•24 min
Facebook’s dream of a more open and connected world turned into a nightmare in Myanmar. Ethnic tensions between the Buddhist majority and the Rohingya minority had been simmering for decades when the country started opening up to outside business. The price of a smartphone SIM card dropped from around $200 to $2, and Facebook quickly became the app of choice. But despite multiple warnings, Facebook failed to control hate speech against Rohingyas, and had very few employees who could read Burmese...
Sep 07, 2018•23 min
Earlier this year, a baker in Liverpool in north-west England vented her frustration on Twitter over constantly being asked by social media influencers for free cakes. Laura Worthington tweeted: “I wasn't kidding when I said this happens a lot.” Many other businesses publicly sided with Laura Worthington on social media… but were they being fair? We investigate the impact of influencers – people with large and/or powerful social media followings. What are the rules and ethics around advertising ...
Aug 31, 2018•23 min
Why are people spending real money to buy land that only exists in virtual reality? In the virtual world of Decentraland, users can build whatever they can imagine on their own plots of land. Some hope to make a profit by trading goods and services using the social platform’s own cryptocurrency. Could this be the birth of a new virtual economy or a cryptocurrency bubble waiting to burst? Presenter: Jonathan Griffin Reporter: Joanne Whalley Producer: Lee Kumutat Studio Manager: James Beard Editor...
Aug 24, 2018•22 min
Back in October 2017, an anonymous figure posted a series of cryptic messages on an online message board. The user, who signed themselves "Q", claimed to have top security clearance within the US government. Despite there being no credible evidence for the claims, “Q” has sparked a vast, endlessly-complicated pro-Trump conspiracy theory. The far-fetched story has since jumped from fringe message boards to the floor of a President Trump rally. We look at the story behind the mysterious “Q”. Prese...
Aug 17, 2018•23 min
What’s it like to be a young YouTube star? Siblings Jaadin and Arabella Daho's lives have significantly changed since they went viral on YouTube in 2015. At just 10 and 11 years old their videos racked up 17 million views. They have since launched a YouTube career and are the main source of income for their family – their mum is their manager. But along with the money and fame has come abuse, both online and off. How has YouTube stardom affected these teenagers and their family? Presenter: Jonat...
Aug 10, 2018•23 min
An update on the people behind a paranoid conspiracy theory. Twenty-six people, mostly young children, died at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. They were the victims of a man named Adam Lanza, who killed himself after the slaughter. It was a shocking tragedy, even in a country used to regular gun violence. Soon false rumours began to circulate online, that the attacks were staged using actors. Although they had no basis in truth, hundreds of YouTube videos, blogs, and tweets repeated the co...
Aug 10, 2018•23 min
We look at what lies ahead for #MeToo, the hashtag which became a world movement in October 2017. In the second of a two-part series, we have a panel discussion with Washington Post columnist Megan McArdle, author Kirsty Allison and gender justice specialist Natalie Collins. We hear from journalist and activist, Meghna Pant who describes an incident known as “eve teasing”, a common term used in some South Asian countries to encompass a wide variety of sexual street harassment. We also explore pl...
Jul 27, 2018•23 min
What’s the future of #MeToo? In October 2017, the hashtag became a worldwide movement in the wake of allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein – who denies the charges against him. But what began as a fightback against sexual harassment and assault has now become a broader movement. And the hashtag and the campaign have been translated into dozens of languages and cultures around the world. In the first of a two-part series, we host a panel discussion with writer Kirsty Allison, ge...
Jul 20, 2018•23 min
