Top Comment

It's the latest example of an influencer's digital persona disintegrating before our eyes. For several years, Angel Victoria Murdock has been portraying a life of self-made success, from real estate deals to a watchalong student experience at Duke University. She curated hundreds of thousands of followers and even appeared on reality show Temptation Island - only, the majority of her online life appears to have been fabricated. After being outed by real graduates of the programme she claimed to attend, Murdock's profile has gone dark. On this episode, we examine her case, and the long line of predecessors who have leveraged a fake identity on social media.
Also this week, as long-time internet provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos cries foul over his deportation from the US, Matt and Marianna consider what his downfall tells us about the state of social media. A man who forged a career from controversy, they discuss why the splintered conservative community may have united in abandoning him, and how cancel culture is evolving.
Plus - Raygun is back online.
Top Comment is hosted by Marianna Spring and Matt Shea. The series producer is Laurie Kalus. The social producer is Sophie Millward. The technical producer was Philip Bull. The editor is Justine Lang. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
If you want to get in touch about something that's popped up on your feed, our email address is topcomment@bbc.co.uk or you can send us a WhatsApp on +44 330 123 9480.

A Massachusetts jury are deliberating in the shocking case of Lindsay Clancy, a mother who admits to killing her three young children amid suffering, her lawyers argue, extreme post-partum psychosis. Online sleuths have been streaming the trial, and aggregating clips online to advance unfounded and defamatory conspiracies in the name of activism and awareness. Matt and Marianna explain how these creators operate, and consider the broader risks connected with the growing phenomenon of TikTok trials, from Depp v Heard to Karen Read.
Top Comment is hosted by Marianna Spring and Matt Shea. The series producer is Laurie Kalus. The social producer is Sophie Millward. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The editor is Justine Lang. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
If you want to get in touch about something that's popped up on your feed, our email address is topcomment@bbc.co.uk or you can send us a WhatsApp on +44 330 123 9480.

How did a 16-year-old girl with no prior online presence manage to gain more than 700k TikTok followers within a week of her first post? On this episode, we discuss the theories behind Ellie Ellis' unlikely explosion, ask whether her multimillion-view debut video could have gone viral organically, and consider how platforms profit from the aspirational lottery underpinning their algorithms. 
Also this week, a growing number of influencers in Bali have been panic-posting as a specialised taskforce ramps up its crackdown against those working illegally there. Matt and Marianna explain how the island paradise became a hotspot for digital nomads, and why the lifestyle they are selling isn't entirely transparent. And, we get the perspective of Alita, an Indonesian content creator who decided to leave.
Plus - Clavicular defends his latest flex from the ick allegations.
Top Comment is hosted by Marianna Spring and Matt Shea. The series producer is Laurie Kalus. The social producer is Sophie Millward. The technical producer was Ben Andrews. The editor is Justine Lang. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
If you want to get in touch about something that's popped up on your feed, our email address is topcomment@bbc.co.uk or you can send us a WhatsApp on +44 330 123 9480.

After roughly 78,000 migrants made the journey from Morocco to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in a matter of hours at the end of July, reporters across the world were quick to identify the role of social media. Capitalising on misinformation about a Spanish Supreme Court ruling, millions of posts appeared over several weeks portraying the territory as a viable path to a new life in Europe. On this episode of Top Comment we take a detailed look at the accounts sharing what we're calling 'mirage content', revealing a network of coordinated profiles spamming the algorithm. For the first time, we expose a direct link between these faceless creators and those profiting from the movement of people, uncovering an integrated business operation run through Instagram.
Top Comment is hosted by Marianna Spring and Matt Shea. The series producer is Laurie Kalus. The social producer is Sophie Millward. The technical producer was Stephen Bailey. The editor is Justine Lang. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
In response to our reporting, Meta told the BBC: “We have a team monitoring the situation in Ceuta in real time and removing content that violates our policies - including content that offers to provide, facilitate or seek human smuggling services”. 
If you want to get in touch about something that's popped up on your feed, our email address is topcomment@bbc.co.uk or you can send us a WhatsApp on +44 330 123 9480.

The manosphere is just the tip of the iceberg - that's the premise of a new report, shared exclusively with Top Comment, about the so-called male grievance industry. Its author, Kristina Wilfore, has spent years investigating state information warfare, a playbook she says is now being followed by influencers weaponising economic anxiety, body dysmorphia, and political disenfranchisement. We've also been given access to brand new data about the viral looksmaxxing trend, which reveals how just 216 accounts drove 14.6bn views on this type of content within the last two years. Kristina, Matt and Marianna discuss the pipeline behind these numbers, and with effective algorithmic regulation seemingly a way off, consider more ambitious methods to clamp down on the exploitative practices which mid-tier creators are using to monetise at scale.
Plus - why the streamers flocking to Epstein island are being sued, and Boy Throb's Darshan finally got a visa!
Top Comment is hosted by Marianna Spring and Matt Shea. The series producer is Laurie Kalus. The social producer is Sophie Millward. The technical producer was Dafydd Evans. The editor is Justine Lang. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
You can access the full report from Reset Tech and Equimundo, 'The Grift Economy: How Young Men Are Being Sold Fake Belonging and Fake Wealth Online', via this link: https://www.equimundo.org/resources/the-grift-economy
If you want to get in touch about something that's popped up on your feed, our email address is topcomment@bbc.co.uk or you can send us a WhatsApp on +44 330 123 9480.