Trending

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 b...

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...

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...

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 so...

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...

They spread like wildfire, but where do they come from? This week, the world of memes. What goes viral online might seem random, but memes can be engineered and hacked to carry political messages. Trending talks to Gianluca Stringhini, associate professor at University College London. His team has been looking into fringe internet groups – they’ve found that some far-right websites and message boa...

The booming global gaming industry is dominated by young people. But five pensioners who call themselves the “Silver Snipers”are proof of gaming’s wider appeal. Trending follows the team as they head to DreamHack, a professional eSports tournament in Sweden. Not only is gaming a hobby that connects them with their grandchildren’s generation, but it’s also helped them through some tough times in li...

It was one short tweet. A transgender activist Miranda Yardley called another transgender activist, Aimee Challenor, a “man”. It certainly wasn’t the first controversial or potentially offensive remark that Miranda Yardley had tweeted out, but it does appear that it was the final straw for Twitter, which handed her a permanent ban. While Miranda says that her views should be protected under the pr...

Who is “Philip Cross”? That’s the name on an account that has made more than 130,000 Wikipedia edits since 2004. But it’s not so much the volume of his work but his subject matter that has irritated anti-war politicians and journalists around the world. His detractors claim that he’s biased against them and that his influence has made some entries unreliable. It’s a charge that’s rejected by the f...

Anna Scanlon made videos about her vegan lifestyle. It was a good way to build connections and keep in touch with people from back home. But one day she angered a fellow vegan blogger. What happened next was, she says, a nightmarish scenario in which she became a target for abuse and unfounded rumours. She was even accused of performing sex acts on camera. She appealed to social media companies bu...

This year Mexico will hold both its presidential and congressional election at the same time. With such high stakes, political parties are being accused of systemically using bots and cyber trolls to spread online propaganda – even though they deny this. Researchers and activists have catalogued examples of bots and troll farms being used to promote specific candidates Initiatives such as Verifica...

After comments by writer and author Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche divided opinion, we speak to members of some of Nigeria’s secret gay and transgender on groups who rely on each other on social media for support. They communicate with each other in private and closed ambiguously named WhatsApp and Facebook groups. Joey Daley from Ohio has documented his mother Molly’s dementia. One film in which she fai...

The Alt. Right in the US is locked in a fierce ideological battle with Antifa - a group of anti-fascists. We investigate online dirty tricks by both sides. And debunking myths in India. How the country is getting to grips with the spread of fake news on an untrackable social platform. Producer: Anisa Subedar (Image: Protest, Credit: Getty Images)

A Russian-funded online new agency has an office in Scotland. We look into allegations of ‘misinformation’ . Is it another just another perspective on news or is an example of what some call ‘Russia’s state-run propaganda machine’? Produced by Anisa Subedar and Will Yates. Image caption: Online agency branding / Image credit: BBC

Happy couples in Shanghai have been rushing to divorce because of rumours of rules change that would make it more expensive for them to buy property. Our second story looks at the first anniversary of the death of three-year-old Alan Kurdi. Did the iconic image of Syrian toddler’s body washed up on a beach lead to real changes in public opinion and the way governments treat refugees? Producer: Ani...