Latest · Democracy & AccountabilityA TikTok Star Led the Far Right to Its First Win in a German State
On Sept. 6, 2026, the anti-migration AfD became the first far-right party to top a German state election since World War II, taking 43.8% in Saxony-Anhalt behind a lead candidate with more than 700,000 TikTok followers.
Charlie Kirk's Accused Killer Will Stand Trial. Much of the Case Is Online.
On Sept. 1, a Utah judge ordered Tyler Robinson to stand trial for the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Prosecutors' evidence leans on his online life: an alleged Discord confession, private texts and bullets engraved with internet memes.
Spain Blames Russia and Israel for the Lies Behind a Deadly Border Rush
On Aug. 31, 2026, Spain's PM Pedro Sánchez accused networks linked to Russia and Israel of spreading the disinformation that helped drive a deadly rush on the Ceuta border, citing EU research. Both denied it.
A WNBA Team Hired Counterterrorism Experts to Track the Threats Against Its Players
In late August, the Chicago Sky became the first WNBA team to bring in a counterterrorism firm and an extremism-research lab to sift the violent, racist and sexualized threats aimed at its players online. Analysts built to hunt terrorists are now reading the posts targeting women who play basketball.
- Incitement & Violence
Two Children Died at a School Mass. The Gunman Idolized Mass Killers Online.
A gunman killed two children and wounded 17 people at a Minneapolis Catholic school Mass on Aug. 27, 2026. Videos he posted to YouTube showed a manifesto and firearms inscribed with the names of past mass shooters — the latest attacker shaped by an online subculture that venerates them.
- Conspiracy & Disinformation
The Health Secretary Suggested Two Measles Deaths Were Faked
Two unvaccinated Pennsylvania residents, one a newborn, died in measles-associated cases the state reported on Aug. 25, 2026. Days later, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggested online the deaths 'may even have been altogether fabricated,' and the CDC left them off its national count.
- Hate & Extremism
Three Men Died Protecting a Mosque. A Teen Is Charged With Streaming Their Killing.
Prosecutors charged a 17-year-old on Aug. 31 with murder and conspiracy, saying she live-streamed the May 18 attack on the Islamic Center of San Diego and published the gunmen's white-supremacist manifesto. Three men died shielding 140 children; the attackers cited the 2019 Christchurch massacre.
- Incitement & Violence
Three Died at a San Diego Mosque. The Teen Who Spread the Video Is Charged With Murder
On Aug. 31, prosecutors charged a 17-year-old in North Carolina with murder over the May massacre at the Islamic Center of San Diego, accused of agreeing beforehand to record and spread the gunmen's livestream and publish their manifesto.
- Democracy & Accountability
New Zealand Moves to Bar Under-16s From Social Media
On Aug. 24, New Zealand's government introduced legislation to bar children under 16 from social media and fine platforms up to 10% of global revenue, as Prime Minister Christopher Luxon cited harm from addictive design and harmful content.
- Incitement & Violence
They Called the Drone a Game
On Aug. 24, 2026, Human Rights Watch reported that armed groups in Colombia have recruited about 1,500 children since 2021, training many to fly explosive-laden drones the fighters described to them as a game. The group found the recommendation algorithms of Facebook and TikTok in some cases 'appear to have actively promoted' the content used to reach them.
- Democracy & Accountability
Meta Will Pay $17 Billion to Settle Claims It Built Apps to Hook Children
On Aug. 26, Meta agreed to pay up to $17 billion and overhaul how minors use Facebook and Instagram to settle a landmark case accusing it of engineering its apps to hook children and hiding the harm.
- Democracy & Accountability
A Court Told X It Can't Hide the Hate
On Aug. 26, a federal judge dismissed Elon Musk's bid to strike down New York's Stop Hiding Hate Act, ruling the First Amendment 'poses no obstacle' to forcing platforms to disclose how they handle hate speech and disinformation.
- Conspiracy & Disinformation
Two Died of Measles in Pennsylvania. Officials Blame Vaccine Lies.
Pennsylvania confirmed on Aug. 25, 2026, that two unvaccinated Lancaster County residents died of measles — the first U.S. measles deaths of the year and the state's first in 35 years. Officials tie the outbreak to falling vaccination driven by vaccine misinformation spread online.
- Hate & Extremism
An Oath to ISIS and a Plan to Bomb a State Capitol
On Aug. 20, 2026, U.S. prosecutors charged an Albany woman they say was radicalized online and pledged allegiance to ISIS before plotting to bomb the New York State Capitol. An FBI undercover operation stopped her as she took possession of a device she believed was real.
- Democracy & Accountability
Russia Faked Newscasts to Sway a German Vote. Berlin Named the Network.
On Aug. 12, 2026, Germany's domestic intelligence agency publicly named 'Matryoshka,' a Russia-linked network faking BBC- and ARD-branded newscasts to smear mainstream parties weeks before three state elections.
- Hate & Extremism
Online Hate Is Driving Malaysia's Rohingya Into Hiding
A viral petition and a flood of dehumanizing posts have driven Rohingya refugees in Malaysia from their homes and schools. Reuters, AFP and Al Jazeera report a 2026 online hate campaign with offline consequences.
- Conspiracy & Disinformation
He Called a School Massacre a Hoax. A Texas Court Cut His Penalty.
A Texas appeals court on Aug. 21, 2026, threw out most of a roughly $50 million judgment against Infowars founder Alex Jones over his false claim that the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre was staged, capping the punitive damages owed to two grieving parents.
- Incitement & Violence
A Teenager Killed a Classmate, and Streamed It Live
On Aug. 18, 2026, a student at a university high school in the southern Philippines fatally shot a classmate and then took his own life, broadcasting the attack live from a body-worn camera. It was the latest killing staged for an online audience.
- Hate & Extremism
Recruited at 15 in Group Chats, a Teenage Neo-Nazi Cell Is Sentenced in Hamburg
On Aug. 5, 2026, a Hamburg court sentenced eight members and supporters of 'Last Defense Wave,' a far-right cell that prosecutors say recruited children as young as 15 through chat apps. The defendants, aged 14 to 21 when the group formed online in 2024, were convicted of attempted murder, arson and assault.
- Incitement & Violence
Radicalized Online, She Is Charged With Plotting to Bomb New York's Capitol
Federal prosecutors said on Aug. 20, 2026, that Jessica Bowie, an Albany woman they say was radicalized online, plotted to bomb the New York State Capitol and kill state senators. The FBI arrested her a day earlier as she took what she believed was a live explosive device.
- Incitement & Violence
77 Years for a '764' Administrator Who Groomed Children Online
On Aug. 19, 2026, a Tennessee federal court sentenced Kyle Spitze, an administrator of the online extremist network 764's 'HarmNation' cell, to 77 years in prison — the longest sentence yet handed to a member of what the FBI classifies as nihilistic violent extremism.
- Democracy & Accountability
Meta Was Built to Hook Children, 29 States Tell a Court
A trial opened Aug. 18, 2026, in federal court in Oakland, where 29 states accuse Meta of engineering Facebook and Instagram to hook children and hiding the harm. An advisory jury has begun hearing a case the company warns could reshape its platforms.
- Democracy & Accountability
A Senate Candidate Deepfaked in His Own Race
Artificial intelligence became a top issue in the 2026 U.S. midterms in mid-August, as a lifelike AI fake of Senate candidate James Talarico showed how deepfake ads are spreading while federal rules stall.
- Democracy & Accountability
France's Top Court Strikes Down the Under-15 Social Media Ban
On Aug. 14, 2026, France's Constitutional Council struck down a law barring children under 15 from social media, ruling the blanket ban disproportionately curbed freedom of expression.
- Democracy & Accountability
The Shield Blocks Liability, Not Lawsuits: 3,000 Suits Over the Feed Move Ahead
On Aug. 10, 2026, a U.S. appeals court ruled that Section 230 does not immunize social-media companies from being sued, letting more than 3,000 lawsuits against Meta, TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat over youth harms proceed.
- Democracy & Accountability
A Girl, 13, Died During a Livestream. Brazil Ordered Discord to Shut Off Live Video
On Aug. 12, 2026, Brazil's data-protection regulator ordered Discord to shut off live video nationwide after a 13-year-old girl died by suicide during a livestream, saying the platform failed to protect minors.
- Conspiracy & Disinformation
A Lie Said France’s First Lady Was Born a Man. It Reached a Delaware Court.
A false claim that France's first lady, Brigitte Macron, was born male spread for years online. A Paris court convicted 10 people over it in January; on July 27, a Delaware judge weighed the Macrons' defamation suit against Candace Owens.
- Hate & Extremism
Abdul El-Sayed Won a Senate Primary. Then ‘Inshallah’ Was Turned Into a Weapon
Days after Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan's Democratic Senate primary on Aug. 4, 2026, a coordinated online campaign turned the word 'inshallah' from his victory speech into an Islamophobic attack. Researchers traced nearly 2,000 amplifying accounts in 24 hours.
- Democracy & Accountability
A Court Called Meta a Public Nuisance. The Victims Were Children.
On Aug. 6, 2026, a New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay $567 million to remediate harms to children and branded Facebook and Instagram a public nuisance. With a March jury penalty, the child-safety judgment now totals $942 million.
- Conspiracy & Disinformation
Dozens Are Dead in Kashmir. Online, the Video Can't Be Trusted.
In late July and early August 2026, weeks of election unrest killed at least 40 people in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Amnesty International said, as authorities cut communications. In the blackout, AI-generated and recycled videos spread online.
- Conspiracy & Disinformation
Dozens Drowned Swimming to Ceuta. A Misread Court Ruling Went Viral First.
From July 30, 2026, some 72,000 people rushed to swim into Spain's enclave of Ceuta after a court ruling was recast online as an open border. Dozens drowned; officials blame social-media disinformation on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.
- Incitement & Violence
Three Dead in Nepal, and a Plea Against the Rumors
Sectarian clashes in southern Nepal killed three people in late July 2026. As curfews spread, Prime Minister Balendra Shah urged the public to stop sharing rumours and misinformation on social media.
- Hate & Extremism
The Chat Rooms That Built a Neo-Nazi Cell
A Hamburg court on Aug. 5, 2026, sentenced eight members and supporters of the far-right cell 'Last Defense Wave' after a campaign of arson against refugee shelters. Prosecutors said it recruited teenagers on Instagram and TikTok and organized across more than 70 chat rooms.
- Incitement & Violence
Beaten for an Audience: France Convicts Two Streamers
A court in Nice convicted two streamers who beat and humiliated Raphaël Graven — 'Jean Pormanove' — for a paying online audience over nearly two years. He died on a Kick livestream in August 2025.
- Democracy & Accountability
TikTok Guesses Children’s Ages. Ofcom Says It’s Getting Too Many Wrong.
On July 16, 2026, Britain's regulator Ofcom opened a formal investigation into TikTok, saying its 'age inference' system may be failing to spot large numbers of children and leaving them exposed to harmful content.
- Conspiracy & Disinformation
A Rumor Said the Border Was Open. Dozens Died at Ceuta.
False online claims that Spain had thrown open its border helped drive tens of thousands toward the enclave of Ceuta in late July 2026, in a surge Spanish authorities say killed at least 72 people. Officials in Spain and Morocco blamed misleading posts on TikTok, WhatsApp and other platforms.
- Democracy & Accountability
Four Teenagers Are Dead. Their Families Say the Feeds Helped Kill Them.
Four American families whose teenage children died by suicide sued Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube on July 31, 2026, alleging the platforms' engagement-driven feeds fueled addiction, depression and self-harm. The Delaware complaint is the latest in a mounting wave of child-safety litigation against social-media companies.
- Conspiracy & Disinformation
Online Lies Spread. Malaysia’s Rohingya Were Driven Out, Then Detained.
Since May 2026, fabricated and AI-generated posts have cast Malaysia's Rohingya refugees as invaders, fact-checkers found. On July 27, after evictions, police detained more than 100 who had sought U.N. protection.
- Hate & Extremism
The Massacre Videos Australia Says Telegram Left Online
On July 30, 2026, Australia's eSafety regulator took Telegram to Federal Court, alleging it failed to remove videos of the Christchurch and Buffalo massacres and Islamic State beheadings — a day after Russia charged the app's founder with terrorism.
- Democracy & Accountability
FIFA Flagged 7 Million Abusive Posts. Its President Called the Critics ‘Consumed by Hate.’
FIFA's own anti-abuse system flagged more than 7 million abusive posts at the 2026 World Cup, about 14 times the last tournament. Days later, its president told critics they were 'consumed by hate.'
- Democracy & Accountability
Minnesota Banned Apps That Undress Real People. Musk’s xAI Sued to Stop It.
On July 27, Elon Musk's xAI filed a federal lawsuit to block Minnesota's first-in-the-nation law banning 'nudification' tools that fabricate nude images of real people, arguing the ban violates the First Amendment.
- Democracy & Accountability
A Court Silenced Bolsonaro. An AI Avatar Spoke for Him Anyway.
Barred from addressing voters under house arrest, Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro appeared at his son's July 25 campaign launch as an AI-generated avatar. Now the country's top electoral court is weighing whether it broke the rules.
- Incitement & Violence
He Killed Four for Fame in an Online World That Idolizes Mass Shooters
On July 28, 2026, a Georgia judge sentenced 16-year-old Colt Gray to life without parole for a 2024 school shooting that killed four. Prosecutors said the massacre was a bid for fame inside an online 'true crime community' that idolizes mass shooters.
- Hate & Extremism
'Piss Off Back to Pakistan': Pauline Hanson's Post Was Racism, Australia's Court Confirms
Australia's Full Federal Court on July 27, 2026, upheld that One Nation leader Pauline Hanson's 'piss off back to Pakistan' reply to Senator Mehreen Faruqi was unlawful racial discrimination, not protected free speech.
- Hate & Extremism
A Deadline for Migrants to Leave, Set on Facebook
By late July 2026, an anti-migrant movement that began online has helped drive tens of thousands of foreign nationals from their homes in South Africa. Operation Dudula, born on social media, set a deadline for migrants to leave — and in places it was enforced with violence.
- Hate & Extremism
Radicalised Online, Three Teenagers Planned to Kill in Singapore
On July 27, 2026, Singapore's Internal Security Department said it had detained three self-radicalised teenagers — aged 14, 15 and 19 — who were preparing attacks in the city-state. One had planned a mass-casualty stabbing at his school after being drawn into extremist content online, including through games on Roblox.
- Incitement & Violence
Two Died at a Synagogue. His Messages Exposed a Second Plot.
A British court jailed a man for life on July 23 for plotting a terror attack on a UK military academy — a plot investigators found in the messages of an associate who had killed two men at a Manchester synagogue.
- Conspiracy & Disinformation
Vaccine Lies Went Viral. Measles Came Back in Record Numbers.
By July 24, 2026, the United States had logged 2,318 measles cases — already more than in all of 2025 — as childhood vaccination slips and false claims about vaccines circulate online. A former C.D.C. official says the 'rise of misinformation' has cost lives.
- Hate & Extremism
A Woman Died at Berlin Pride. The Suspect Was Convicted for ISIS Posts, Then Freed.
On July 25, a woman was killed and 29 injured when a van struck crowds at Berlin's Christopher Street Day. The suspect, shot dead by police the next day, had been convicted two months earlier for publishing Islamic State propaganda on Instagram, then released.
- Hate & Extremism
A White-Nationalist March, Staged for the Feed
On July 4, masked members of the white-nationalist group Patriot Front marched in Washington. Researchers say the spectacle was engineered as online propaganda to spread 'great replacement' rhetoric and recruit.
- Conspiracy & Disinformation
The Evidence Came Out in Court. The Charlie Kirk Conspiracy Theories Didn't Stop.
Over five days in July 2026, a Utah court laid out DNA, surveillance video and confession messages in the killing of activist Charlie Kirk. Online, conspiracy theories about his September 2025 death kept spreading regardless.
- Democracy & Accountability
Brussels Says TikTok Left Teenagers Open to Strangers
On July 24, 2026, the European Commission charged TikTok under the Digital Services Act, finding that account settings left minors exposed to strangers, cyberbullying and unwanted contact. The company risks a fine of up to 6% of global revenue.
- Misogyny & Women's Rights
An AI Undressed Women and Children on X. Now Its Maker Is Suing a User.
On July 15, 2026, Elon Musk's xAI sued a user it accused of using its Grok chatbot to create child sexual abuse material — months after the AI publicly turned photos of real women and children into sexualized images on X.
- Incitement & Violence
A Terror Group Assembled Online. Then Synagogues Burned.
On July 13, 2026, Britain outlawed the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right, an Iran-linked group that emerged online this spring and claimed a wave of arson attacks on London synagogues and Jewish sites, recruiting proxies on Telegram.
- Misogyny & Women's Rights
Andrew Tate Built an Empire on Misogyny. Now He Faces 59 Charges.
Andrew Tate, the self-described misogynist whose videos have drawn billions of views, was arrested with his brother Tristan in Miami on July 18 on a British extradition request. UK prosecutors want to try the pair on 59 charges, including rape and human trafficking.
- Democracy & Accountability
France Bars Under-15s From Social Media, a First in Europe
On July 21, 2026, France's parliament adopted a bill barring children under 15 from social media — the first blanket age ban in the EU — citing cyberbullying and content that promotes self-harm.
- Conspiracy & Disinformation
Trump Took Election Conspiracies to Primetime. His Own Documents Undercut Him.
On July 16, 2026, President Trump used a primetime White House address to revive debunked conspiracy theories about rigged voting machines, Chinese hacking and noncitizen voters. The intelligence he declassified concluded U.S. election systems ‘would be difficult to manipulate.’
- Incitement & Violence
He Typed Death Threats Into YouTube. A Grand Jury Indicted Him.
A Pennsylvania man who called himself a Nazi posted threats to kill a member of Congress, transgender people and Muslims in YouTube comments, prosecutors say. A grand jury indicted him on 12 counts on July 10, 2026.
- Hate & Extremism
A 14-Year-Old, a Manifesto, and a Plot Against Two Mosques
A 14-year-old boy pleaded not guilty on July 16, 2026, to plotting a terrorist attack on two south London mosques, in a case British police link to extreme right-wing ideology and online radicalization.
- Misogyny & Women's Rights
They Called the Women ‘Cars’. German Courts Called It Rape.
On July 8, 2026, a Berlin court convicted a former doctor over a German-based Telegram network that drugged and raped women — the latest of several 2026 verdicts. Members catalogued victims with code words: ‘cars’ for the women, ‘fuel’ for sedatives, ‘driving’ for rape.
- Democracy & Accountability
The Researchers Washington Branded ‘Censors’
On July 14, 2026, a federal judge froze a U.S. visa policy that had moved to bar and remove foreign nationals who study online disinformation and hate speech, calling it viewpoint discrimination.
- Incitement & Violence
Online Lies Are Getting Refugees Attacked, the U.N. Warns
On July 7, 2026, the U.N. refugee agency warned that online misinformation, hate speech and AI deepfakes are inciting real-world harm to refugees — from blocked aid to attacks. A UNHCR survey found 93% of its staff had seen such content affecting their work.
- Hate & Extremism
Mbappé Scored a Penalty. A Senator Answered With Racism.
After Kylian Mbappé's July 4 penalty knocked Paraguay out of the World Cup, a Paraguayan senator racially abused him on X. French prosecutors opened a hate inquiry as FIFA reported a 13-fold surge in abusive posts.
- Democracy & Accountability
A Cabinet Minister Quit X, Saying It ‘Isn’t Healthy for Democracy’
On July 2, 2026, Britain's culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, quit Elon Musk's X and pulled her department off it, saying the platform now favors abuse and misinformation. She is the most senior figure in a widening government exit tied to online incitement of anti-immigrant riots.
- Hate & Extremism
Three Penalties Missed, a Flood of Racist Abuse
After the Netherlands lost a World Cup penalty shootout to Morocco on June 29, three Black Dutch players who missed were swamped with racist messages online. The Dutch federation referred the abuse to prosecutors on July 3.
- Hate & Extremism
The Group Chats Behind a White House Plot
Prosecutors say eight men met and radicalized in encrypted chats and social-media forums before plotting a drone-and-sniper attack on a UFC event at the White House. Two pleaded not guilty on July 16, 2026.
- Democracy & Accountability
Australia Says Big Tech Gamed Its Under-16 Ban. Now It's Doubling the Fines.
In late June 2026, Australia moved to nearly double the penalties for platforms that fail to keep under-16s off their services and to give its online regulator court powers, six months after the world-first ban took effect.
- Incitement & Violence
An Incel Manifesto, and Two Dead in Montreal
A gunman killed a Montreal police officer and a bystander on June 22, 2026, before he was shot dead. He left a 104-page manifesto rooted in the online 'incel' subculture that rages against women and urges violence.
- Incitement & Violence
The Online Network the FBI Calls Terrorism
A San Antonio man who helped lead an online group that coerced children into self-harm and abuse was sentenced in July 2026 to 40 years in prison, part of a widening U.S. crackdown on the extremist network known as 764.
- Democracy & Accountability
Seven Thousand Images From a Childhood Photo
An amended U.S. class action filed July 7, 2026, alleges Elon Musk's Grok chatbot was used to turn photographs of children into thousands of sexual images. It adds Stability AI as a defendant amid a global legal and regulatory fight.
- Incitement & Violence
From Feed to Fire in Northern Ireland
On July 11, 2026, a Northern Ireland bonfire bore a replica mosque and four flags — the latest flashpoint in a summer of anti-immigrant violence that officials say was inflamed online, from circulated video to lists of immigrant homes.
- Misogyny & Women's Rights
When Misogyny Rose Online, So Did the Reported Violence
Research commissioned by London's Violence Reduction Unit and published on July 14, 2026, found that days with a rise in misogynistic posts online coincided with more police-recorded violence against women and girls.
- Conspiracy & Disinformation
The Bandit Invasion That Only Happened Online
False online rumors of bandit invasions and school attacks fueled panic and a deadly mob killing in Nigeria in mid-2026. On 7 July a security watchdog warned that AI-driven disinformation now threatens national stability.
- Democracy & Accountability
Seoul Puts a Price on 'Fake News'
On July 7, 2026, South Korea began enforcing a revised law that lets courts award up to five times damages against outlets and large accounts that spread false information. Press-freedom groups warn of a chilling effect.
- Democracy & Accountability
The Platforms That Couldn't Count the Hate
On July 6-7, 2026, Australia's Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion pressed Meta, TikTok, YouTube and Kick on antisemitic content. None could say from their own data whether it was rising or falling.
- Democracy & Accountability
The Drop a Royal Commission Asked Meta to Explain
At hearings in Sydney in early July 2026, Australia's Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion questioned Meta over a 79 percent fall in the hateful content it acted on after loosening its moderation rules.
- Incitement & Violence
Two Monks Mistaken for Thieves
A WhatsApp rumor about child-organ thieves during India's 2020 lockdown ended in a mob lynching in Palghar. Two Hindu monks and their driver were beaten to death; about 110 villagers were later arrested.
- Hate & Extremism
The Riots Facebook Later Apologized For
Anti-Muslim riots swept Sri Lanka's Kandy district in 2018 after inflammatory posts spread on Facebook. The government blocked the platform nationwide, and Facebook later apologized for its role.
- Conspiracy & Disinformation
A Deepfake Landed in Slovakia's Silent Hours
Two days before Slovakia's 2023 election, a fabricated audio clip of a liberal leader discussing vote-rigging spread during the media blackout. Fact-checkers identified it as AI-generated.
- Incitement & Violence
Twenty-Three Thousand Pills That Never Existed
A false Facebook story about seized sterilization pills helped set off deadly anti-Muslim riots in Sri Lanka in 2018. Facebook later apologized for its role.
- Incitement & Violence
Thrown From a Second Floor on a Rumor
A Pakistani student was beaten, shot and thrown from a university building by a mob over an unverified online blasphemy claim. Investigators later found no evidence he had committed blasphemy.
- Hate & Extremism
Germany Logs an Antisemitic Incident Every 50 Minutes
A German monitoring network recorded 994 antisemitic incidents in the month after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack, a jump of more than 300% over a year earlier. Investigators tied part of the surge to online hate.
- Conspiracy & Disinformation
The Video They Raced to Delete
In May 2020, a 26-minute clip called Plandemic pushed false COVID-19 claims to millions before platforms scrambled to remove it. It became an early study in how sites struggle to contain a viral health hoax.
- Conspiracy & Disinformation
The Verse Edited Into a Riot
A deceptively edited 2016 video of Jakarta's Christian governor, Ahok, spread online, fueled mass protests and helped send him to prison for blasphemy. The man who altered the clip was later convicted himself.
- Incitement & Violence
South Africa's July Unrest Was Organized Online
Days of looting and violence in July 2021 killed more than 300 people in South Africa. A presidential expert panel found social media played a major role in the unrest, and in 2025 Jacob Zuma's daughter was charged with inciting it online.
- Hate & Extremism
The Town They Told to Belong to One Faith
In early 2018 a video urging Sinhalese to converge on the Sri Lankan town of Digana spread on Facebook before anti-Muslim riots killed people and burned homes. Facebook later apologised for its role.
- Conspiracy & Disinformation
The Testing Ground in Nairobi and Abuja
The 2018 Cambridge Analytica revelations exposed how the firm worked Kenyan and Nigerian elections. Both governments moved to investigate foreign meddling in their votes.
- Incitement & Violence
The Student Cleared After They Killed Him
A mob at a Pakistani university beat student Mashal Khan to death in 2017 over an online blasphemy rumour. Investigators found no evidence against him and courts called the killing premeditated murder.
- Misogyny & Women's Rights
The Sister Strangled for Her Followers
Pakistani social-media star Qandeel Baloch built a following of hundreds of thousands by defying conservative norms. In July 2016 her brother drugged and strangled her, saying she had dishonored the family.
- Hate & Extremism
A Teenager, a Manifesto and Ten Dead in Buffalo
Payton Gendron killed 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket in 2022 after being radicalized online. A New York attorney general's report found fringe platforms and livestreaming incubated and amplified his plans.
- Incitement & Violence
The Rumor That Emptied a Village
False child-abduction rumors on WhatsApp fueled a wave of mob lynchings across India in 2017 and 2018. India's Supreme Court warned of 'mobocracy' and pressed the platform to curb viral forwards.
- Misogyny & Women's Rights
The Review That Launched a Mob
A false 2014 blog post about a game developer ignited Gamergate, a years-long online harassment campaign that targeted women in gaming with doxing, rape threats and death threats.
- Incitement & Violence
The 'Rebellion' Declared on Facebook
Minutes before he drove a van into Toronto pedestrians in April 2018, Alek Minassian posted a Facebook message hailing an 'incel rebellion.' The case became a landmark of online misogynist radicalization turning lethal.
- Democracy & Accountability
The Nobel Laureate They Tried to Troll Offline
A big-data study found most online attacks on Philippine journalist Maria Ressa sought to discredit her reporting. Much of the abuse spread on Facebook and Twitter as she faced cyber-libel prosecution.
- Democracy & Accountability
The Mob That Came for Three Branches
Bolsonaro supporters, mobilized in part by online falsehoods about Brazil's 2022 vote, stormed three seats of power on Jan. 8, 2023. In 2025, a Supreme Court panel convicted the former president of a coup plot.
- Conspiracy & Disinformation
A 5G Hoax Torched Phone Towers in a Pandemic
A false theory linking 5G to COVID-19 spread on Facebook and messaging apps, driving a wave of arson attacks on UK phone masts in spring 2020. About 77 sites were damaged, many not even 5G-enabled.
- Misogyny & Women's Rights
The Manfluencer in the Staffroom
Australian researchers who interviewed 30 women teachers found boys are echoing 'manosphere' figures such as Andrew Tate, driving a rise in classroom misogyny and sexual harassment.
- Conspiracy & Disinformation
The Kremlin's Quiet Hand on the Ballot
Ahead of Germany's February 2025 election, NewsGuard catalogued 22 false claims, some tied to Russian operations aimed at boosting the far-right AfD. Separate analyses found platform algorithms amplifying pro-AfD content.
- Hate & Extremism
The 'Invasion' He Posted to 8chan
Minutes before killing 23 people at an El Paso Walmart in 2019, the gunman uploaded a screed to 8chan citing a 'Hispanic invasion.' Prosecutors traced how the imageboard's culture fed the attack.
- Misogyny & Women's Rights
The Hashtag That Hunted Women in Games
Beginning in 2014, the #Gamergate campaign subjected women in the video-game industry to doxxing and rape and death threats. Analysts later called it a template for the harassment mobs that followed.
- Democracy & Accountability
The Group That Grew to a Riot
A pro-Trump "Stop the Steal" Facebook group swelled to hundreds of thousands of members within a day in November 2020. It was an early node in an online effort that culminated in the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol.
- Democracy & Accountability
The Genocide They Took to Dublin: Rohingya Refugees Sue Meta in Ireland
After a US appeals court shut their case under Section 230, Rohingya refugees brought claims against Meta in Ireland's High Court over Facebook's alleged role in the 2017 Myanmar genocide.
- Conspiracy & Disinformation
The Firehose on WhatsApp
Days before Brazil's 2018 runoff, the newspaper Folha revealed a business-funded scheme flooding WhatsApp with disinformation for the winning candidate. Researchers called it a test of the platform's danger to democracy.
- Democracy & Accountability
A Coroner Names the Content That Helped Kill a Child
In a ruling described as a global first, a UK coroner concluded that 14-year-old Molly Russell died in part from the negative effects of online content pushed to her by Instagram and Pinterest.
- Democracy & Accountability
The Executive Who Spared a Politician's Account
A 2020 Wall Street Journal investigation reported that Facebook's top India policy executive resisted banning a ruling-party lawmaker who had called for Muslims to be shot, citing business risk.
- Conspiracy & Disinformation
The Ebola Clinics They Came to Burn
During the 2018-2019 Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo, rumors that clinics harvested organs or that the virus was a political ruse fueled attacks that forced treatment centers to close.
- Misogyny & Women's Rights
The Doctor's Room on Telegram
South Korean operators of Telegram's 'Nth Room' networks blackmailed dozens of women and girls into sexual videos sold for cryptocurrency. Ringleader Cho Ju-bin was sentenced to 40 years in 2020.
- Conspiracy & Disinformation
India's Billion-Voter Election Met the Deepfake
During India's 2024 general election, AI deepfakes revived a politician who died in 2018 and faked Bollywood endorsements. Surveys, the Election Commission and a WhatsApp tipline all scrambled to respond.
- Democracy & Accountability
The Dance App That Named a Target
A 2022 Mozilla investigation found more than 130 TikTok videos spreading hate speech and ethnic incitement ahead of Kenya's election, some amassing hundreds of thousands of views.
- Misogyny & Women's Rights
The Classrooms Hunted in a Chatroom
In 2024, South Korean police opened their first investigation into Telegram over sexually explicit deepfakes of women and girls shared in chatrooms. Most victims were female; most identified suspects were teenagers.
- Incitement & Violence
The ‘Child-Lifter’ Rumor That Killed
False WhatsApp warnings about roving child-kidnapping gangs drove a wave of mob lynchings across India in 2018, killing more than two dozen people, including five men beaten to death in Maharashtra.
- Conspiracy & Disinformation
The Chains That Chose a President
Colombia's 2018 presidential race was saturated by disinformation forwarded through encrypted WhatsApp chains, from doctored photos to false rumors that fact-checkers could not reach.
- Conspiracy & Disinformation
The Cabinets That Weren't Children
In July 2020 a QAnon-fueled rumor claimed the furniture retailer Wayfair was trafficking children in high-priced cabinets. The baseless theory flooded the U.S. human-trafficking hotline, straining help for real victims.
- Conspiracy & Disinformation
The Buzzers Who Drowned an Election
Indonesia's communication ministry counted 700 election-related hoaxes in a single month in 2019. Paid 'buzzers' running fake accounts amplified religious and ethnic smears against both presidential candidates.
- Misogyny & Women's Rights
The Bot That Undressed a Hundred Thousand
A 2020 investigation by the firm Sensity found a Telegram bot had generated fake nude images of more than 100,000 women from ordinary photos. Most users said they targeted women they knew, and some images appeared to show minors.
- Hate & Extremism
The Algorithm That Boosted a Junta
Weeks after Myanmar's 2021 coup, and after Facebook banned the military, a rights group found the platform's recommendation algorithm still steering users to pro-army pages that broke its rules.
- Incitement & Violence
The Account That Called In the Bomb Threats
In 2022 the account Libs of TikTok amplified false claims that U.S. children's hospitals were sterilizing minors. Bomb and death threats followed, forcing lockdowns as clinicians were harassed.
- Misogyny & Women's Rights
Shot at the Wheel in Baghdad
Tara Fares, a 22-year-old Iraqi model with millions of online followers, was shot dead in her car in Baghdad in 2018, one of several prominent women killed as their public profiles drew hostility.
- Conspiracy & Disinformation
The Price of Broadcasting a Stolen-Election Myth
Fox News agreed in April 2023 to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million to settle a defamation suit over false claims that its machines rigged the 2020 U.S. election.
- Misogyny & Women's Rights
The Rapists Her Husband Found Online
A French court convicted Dominique Pelicot and 49 other men in the mass rape of Gisele Pelicot, whom he drugged and offered to strangers recruited in a chatroom on the website Coco.
- Hate & Extremism
One Tweet in Seven: Amnesty Measures the Abuse Aimed at India's Women in Politics
A crowdsourced Amnesty International study of the 2019 Indian election found that about one in seven tweets mentioning women politicians was problematic or abusive, with Muslim and lower-caste women targeted far more.
- Misogyny & Women's Rights
One Hundred Women Listed for a Sham Auction
On New Year's Day 2022, a GitHub-hosted app called Bulli Bai posted photos of about 100 outspoken Indian Muslim women for a fake auction. It followed an earlier app, Sulli Deals; Indian police arrested several young suspects.
- Misogyny & Women's Rights
One Hundred Thousand Messages for One Teenager
After a 16-year-old in France criticised Islam in a 2020 livestream, she was flooded with more than 100,000 hate messages. In 2021 a Paris court convicted eleven people of online harassment.
- Democracy & Accountability
One Hundred Fifty Billion and a Shield Called 230
Rohingya refugees sued Meta for $150 billion over Facebook's role in Myanmar's genocide. In April 2026 a US appeals court held the claims barred by Section 230.
- Conspiracy & Disinformation
Old Photos Passed Off as Fresh Blood
A 2018 BBC investigation found images from an old domestic-violence case and a foreign road accident recirculating on Nigerian social media as proof of farmer-herder massacres, inflaming a conflict already killing thousands.
- Misogyny & Women's Rights
Forty-Seven Million Views of a Fake
In January 2024, AI-generated explicit deepfakes of Taylor Swift spread across X and 4chan, with one image seen 47 million times before removal. The episode forced X to disable searches and revived calls for U.S. deepfake legislation.
- Misogyny & Women's Rights
Fifty Rape Threats an Hour Over a Banknote
After Caroline Criado-Perez won a campaign to keep a woman on a British banknote in 2013, she faced weeks of Twitter rape and death threats, at times about 50 an hour. Two people were later jailed and Twitter added an abuse-report button.
- Hate & Extremism
The Massacre That Streamed for Seventeen Minutes
New Zealand's Royal Commission found the Christchurch mosque gunman, who killed 51 people in 2019 and livestreamed the attack on Facebook, was radicalised largely through YouTube and Facebook.
- Misogyny & Women's Rights
Fifty-Eight Percent, Driven Offline
A 2020 Plan International survey of 14,000 girls in 22 countries found 58 percent had faced online harassment, with the abuse pushing many off Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
- Hate & Extremism
Eleven Prayers and a Post on Gab
Before killing 11 worshippers at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue in 2018, the gunman steeped himself in antisemitic content on Gab and posted a final message minutes before opening fire. His trial made the fringe network central evidence.
- Hate & Extremism
Death Threats That Preceded a Governor's Murder
Walter Lubcke defended taking in refugees, then endured years of online hate and death threats. In 2019 a right-wing extremist shot him dead at home.
- Misogyny & Women's Rights
Byte Bullies at the Ballot
Feminist researchers at Pollicy found women candidates in Kenya's 2022 election faced far more online violence than men, with gendered disinformation, harassment and body-shaming used to push them out of politics.
- Hate & Extremism
A Lie Spread Online, and a Man Was Burned Alive
A false blasphemy accusation spread on social media. In June 2024 a mob in Pakistan's Swat Valley stormed a police station and burned a detained tourist alive.
- Democracy & Accountability
The EU Charges X Over Its Broken Trust Signals
The European Commission's preliminary findings say X's paid blue checkmarks deceive users and breach the Digital Services Act. The case could bring fines of up to 6% of the company's global turnover.
- Incitement & Violence
An Hour of Hate After a Singer Fell
Within an hour of the June 2020 assassination of Oromo musician Hachalu Hundessa, Ethiopian social media filled with hate speech and calls for ethnic killing. Facebook posts had demonized him for months before.
- Democracy & Accountability
An Election Annulled Over a TikTok Surge
In December 2024, Romania's Constitutional Court annulled a presidential first round after declassified intelligence alleged a Russia-linked TikTok and Telegram operation boosted outsider Calin Georgescu.
- Misogyny & Women's Rights
Iran Built an App to Flag Uncovered Hair
A UN fact-finding mission documented Iran's Nazer app, which lets police and vetted citizens report women seen without a hijab in vehicles, flagging cars for penalties. It arrived alongside a hardened dress-code law.
- Incitement & Violence
Sudan's Battlefield Moved to the Feed
Researchers documented ethnic hate speech and a flood of AI-fabricated video and audio across social platforms during Sudan's civil war. In October 2024, X suspended the Rapid Support Forces' accounts.
- Incitement & Violence
A Voice Note and a Campus Turned Mob
A student in Sokoto, Nigeria, was stoned and burned to death over a WhatsApp voice note deemed blasphemous, and video of the killing spread online. Rights groups say such rumors routinely trigger mob violence before authorities can act.
- Incitement & Violence
A Stabbing, a Spire, a Riot
After a knife attack outside a Dublin school in 2023, far-right accounts online falsely cast the assailant as a foreign attacker and called crowds to the Spire. A riot followed, and Irish police began collating the online material.
- Democracy & Accountability
A Secret History That Never Happened
During Taiwan's January 2024 election, AI-generated videos pushed a fabricated 'secret history' of the outgoing president. Researchers and Microsoft documented the synthetic clips spreading around polling day.
- Hate & Extremism
A Rally Planned in a Chat Server
Before the deadly 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, organizers coordinated on a private Discord server where some joked about driving cars into counter-protesters. The logs later became evidence in a civil trial.
- Conspiracy & Disinformation
A Quake, a Cloud and a HAARP Hoax
After the February 2023 earthquakes killed tens of thousands in Turkey and Syria, false claims flooded social media, from a HAARP attack cloud to recycled disaster footage, hampering relief and spreading panic.
- Democracy & Accountability
A Nairobi Court Summons Menlo Park
Kenya's High Court ruled in April 2025 that it can hear a case accusing Meta of amplifying hate that fueled killings during Ethiopia's Tigray war, a landmark for platform accountability in Africa.
- Incitement & Violence
A Lynching Video Filmed in Another Country
During India's 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, an old lynching video from abroad was passed off as fresh local atrocity and spread on YouTube and WhatsApp. An official inquiry said it helped inflame violence that killed at least 60 people.
- Incitement & Violence
A Lie in Class That Ended in a Beheading
A pupil's false account of a French teacher's free-speech lesson spread online with his name and school. In 2024 a Paris court convicted eight people over the campaign that marked Samuel Paty as a target.
- Hate & Extremism
A Helmet Camera Aimed at a Locked Door
On Yom Kippur 2019, a gunman livestreamed his failed attempt to storm a synagogue in Halle, Germany, on Twitch. A recording of the feed reached about 2,200 people before it was removed.
- Conspiracy & Disinformation
A Hammer Attack Recast as a Lovers' Quarrel
Hours after Paul Pelosi was beaten with a hammer in October 2022, a baseless claim that the attacker was a lover spread to millions online. Police and prosecutors said the assault was politically motivated.
- Incitement & Violence
The Southport Lie That Lit England's Riots
After three children were murdered in Southport in 2024, false online claims that the attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker helped ignite riots across England. British courts later jailed people for online incitement.
- Democracy & Accountability
A Fake Voice Note Hours Before the Polls
On the eve of Nigeria's 2023 presidential vote, a doctored audio purported to catch Atiku Abubakar plotting to rig the election. Fact-checkers found it was fabricated.
- Hate & Extremism
A Fake Account, a Burned Quran, a Town in Ashes
In September 2012, a desecration image tagged to a fake Facebook account in a Buddhist man's name triggered mobs that destroyed Buddhist temples and homes in Ramu, Bangladesh. The accused man had never posted it.
- Hate & Extremism
The Genocide Facebook Helped Broadcast
Years before Myanmar's military drove out the Rohingya, hate speech spread on Facebook. UN investigators and Amnesty International later found the platform's design amplified it.
- Misogyny & Women's Rights
The Women Being Shouted Out of Public Life
Amnesty studied 228,000 tweets to women politicians and found one MP received nearly half of all the abuse. What online misogyny costs women — and democracy.
- Conspiracy & Disinformation
The Night a Conspiracy Theory Walked In With a Rifle
In 2016 a man fired a rifle inside a family pizzeria because the internet told him children were caged there. What 'Pizzagate' still teaches us about online lies.