Marianna Spring and Danny Wallace: Among the Trolls
The BBC's disinformation correspondent Marianna Spring, and presenter and author Danny Wallace, take us on a deep dive into algorithms and online polarisation.
Have you heard that Bill Gates is running a secret genocidal plot? That the war in Ukraine isn't real? Or that people are paid to act out some of the worst attacks imaginable?
In Among the Trolls, BBC reporter Marianna Spring meets the most committed conspiracy theorists – and their victims.
Far from a few lone wolves, she uncovers a staggering network of true believers, trolls and conspiracy influencers engaged in an international information war. She takes on the social media companies and their algorithms, exposing the harm they can cause from witnessing it up close.
Based on first-hand interviews and original reporting, this eye-opening and unforgettable book reveals the very real consequences of disinformation, hate and online polarisation, and the risks that come with investigating it.
Marianna Spring is the BBC's first disinformation and social media correspondent and an award-winning journalist. She presents podcasts and documentaries investigating disinformation and social media for BBC Radio 4 podcasts, as well as for BBC Panorama and BBC Three.
She is also one of the presenters of the BBC's Americast podcast. In 2022, she was named the British Press Guild's Audio Presenter of the year and Royal Television Society Innovation winner.
Danny Wallace is a Sunday Times bestselling author of Yes Man and Join Me, as well as a BAFTA-, Arqiva- and Sony-winning performer and presenter. He has written and presented shows on all the major UK television and radio networks, and currently presents the Important Broadcast on Radio X.
In Somebody Told Me, Wallace takes a trip down the modern rabbit hole of lies, conspiracies and disinformation. Along the way, he encounters families torn apart by accusations and fake news, journalists putting themselves on the frontline of the disinformation war, reformed conspiracy theorists, influencers who see profit in stoking paranoia, and the shadowy nameless, faceless trolls on the other side of our screens.
He discovers how disinformation and well-told lies can ruin a year or a whole life; how they can affect our family, our street, our community; how they can spread across a country, a continent or even the world; and how they take hold of our imaginations and make us feel both helpless and powerful.
Need to know
For ages 16+
This event is Speech-to-Text transcribed (STT).
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Copies of Among the Trolls are available to purchase as an optional add-on for £10.99 (RRP £17.99) when you buy a ticket to the talk. The book must be collected on the night of the event, as we’re unable to distribute copies afterwards.
Early copies of Somebody Told Me by Danny Wallace (published on 9 May 2024) are available to purchase from Foyles at the event for £22.
Dates & times
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