Marianna Spring (BBC) Discusses Conspiracy Theories and Online Violence
A year after becoming the BBC’s first specialist disinformation and social media reporter, Marianna Spring discusses her work covering fake news and conspiracy theories – and the resulting torrent of online abuse and threats. In what she has described as her “crazy first year down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole”, Spring has reported on QAnon, claims that 5G technology was helping the spread of the coronavirus, and the false accusations of election fraud that led to the storming of the U.S. Capitol. Her recent report on Panorama investigated the vaccine hesitancy stoked by online conspiracy theorists. Her work has made her a target of online violence that spiked after she reported on QAnon, the cult-like conspiracy theory that Donald Trump was waging a secret war against a cabal of Satanic paedophiles in Hollywood, the government and the media. Moderated by FCC First Vice President Eric Wishart.
Marianna Spring is the BBC’s first specialist disinformation reporter, focusing on tackling the mountain of disinformation available online. She sat down with PoliticsJOE to discuss what happened when she met a man who sent her abuse online in real life and if people who think the Royal Family eat babies can be helped.
