“The internet has opened up pathways to make certain kinds of crimes easier.”
While we may spend hours on the internet these days, there is no denying that it can be a truly frightening place, and a brand new Netflix documentary is set to lay that reality bare.
Web of Make Believe: Lies and the Internet is an anthology series in six parts, with each episode taking a look at some of the more concerning corners of the online world.
The official synopsis from Netflix states that the documentary will tell the stories of people “caught in the dark and twisted web of modern misinformation and digital deception”.
One episode examines the consequences of SWATting – in which emergency services are deceived into attending the homes of innocent individuals – while another tale “takes a chilling trip down the rabbit hole of white supremacy”. In another episode, the team join a Federal hunt for a suspect in an IRS heist, and another episode takes a look at the role Russian interference played in the 2016 US Presidential election.
According to Netflix, the series is “rich with distinctive characters and surprising plotlines”, and examines how “reality is distorted when the ordinary American household collides with a chaotic web of misinformation.”
In the trailer, one of the documentary’s participants says: “The internet has opened up pathways to make certain kinds of crimes easier.”
Another contributor comments on one of the subject’s penchant for SWATting, saying: “He enjoyed SWATting people, it was his form of entertainment.”
The trailer also touches upon how the documentary explores image-based sexual abuse scams.
One victim tells the camera: “I got a text message that said ‘Send me a naked picture or I’ll kill you.'”
Another commenter shares: “If you allow the worst people in the world to have unrestrained abilities to hijack the biggest platforms in the world, there are going to be huge consequences.”
Web Of Make Believe: Death, Lies And The Internet comes to Netflix on 15 June.
