Death Threats & Disinformation: What It’s Like Being Viciously Targeted By Conspiracy Theory Activists

British VOGUE
I am a little bit afraid of the dark, and I don’t like heights. I also feel a bit scared when I’m watching my football team trying desperately not to concede another goal at the end of a game. But otherwise, I’d like to think I’m fearless.

That’s because I used to believe that social media trolls, who I spend my time battling and investigating on a regular basis, could smell fear. Like a pack of wolves who follow the scent of blood in the air, they’d descend in their dozens and attempt to tear chunks from me. But, instead, I’ve come to realize it may actually be the opposite. An absence of fear appears to spur them on most.

I’m the BBC’s first disinformation and social media correspondent, tasked with investigating social media’s underbelly and exposing the real-world harm caused by conspiracy theories, hate and algorithms. Entering this online world – and refusing to leave – has made me a lightning rod for a particularly committed bunch of conspiracy theory activists. Between January and June 2023, the BBC received 14,488 escalations about on-air presenters or people considered at risk of online abuse, and 11,771 related to me. We’re not talking legitimate criticism here, but hate, including threats – violent and sexually explicit – and every misogynistic slur under the sun.

What’s been happening to me is just a small part of a campaign of intimidation waged by conspiracy activists against doctors, nurses, politicians, journalists and anyone they see complicit in sinister plots to cause harm. These people are willing to act offline too – and for me, that escalated to new levels last summer. MORE