Episode description

When Julia Wandelt posted on social media that she believed she was Madeleine McCann, she became a lightning rod for online anger. In the first of a new series exploring extraordinary cases of online hate and the possibility of forgiveness, Marianna Spring, the BBC's Disinformation and social media correspondent, speaks to Julia about her motives and regrets.

Listen to more episodes of Why Do You Hate Me on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts. For this series, Marianna Spring (one of the most trolled BBC journalists) dives into her inbox and investigates a different extraordinary case of online hate to find out. She meets the people at the heart of these conflicts, and in some cases brings them together, to see if understanding - even forgiveness - is ever possible. Subscribe to BBC Sounds to hear the episodes first.

And watch the episodes on BBC iPlayer too.

If you have been affected by some of the issues raised in this programme, please visit bbc.co.uk/actionline.

Host: Marianna Spring Series Producer: Emma Close Producer: Ben Carter
 Editor: Sam Bonham
Commissioning editor: Rhian Roberts Sound Engineer: Tom Brignell Production co-ordinator: Rosie Strawbridge

Archive credits: Peteski Productions distributed through CBS Media Ventures.