Among the Trolls by Marianna Spring review – a heartbreaking insight into the world of conspiracy theories

Much has been written about the rise of conspiracy theories and the catastrophic consequences they’ve had on trust in the most basic of institutions.

The UK is among the countries with the lowest confidence in political institutions, police and press. One survey found that among peer nations, only Egypt has lower levels of trust in the press than the UK.

But what is driving an ever-growing number of people to these theories? And what is the impact on the individuals who have found home in communities where fear and suspicion run rampant?

How do you separate those who intentionally misstate the facts for shameless personal benefit from those who earnestly share conspiracies which they believe to be right? Once someone is in this world of doubt is it possible for them to escape?

In ‘Among the Trolls’ Marianna Spring jumps into the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories and tries to answer these questions and more.

After being made the first-ever disinformation and social media correspondent for BBC News four years ago, Spring has been given the space to intimately report on a world whose impact is truthfully only just beginning to be properly understood.

From the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy to the moon landing, conspiracy theories mostly used to be about explaining events in the past.

But with social media making it easier for individuals who believe these ideas to connect and with trust in mainstream news outlets plummeting, Spring argues we’ve entered a “golden age for misinformation and hate.”

In recent years, conspiracy theorists have raised suspicions about the motives behind government COVID-19 lockdowns and the vaccine, accused victims of the Manchester Arena bombing of faking their injuries and descended on a small Lancashire village in an attempt to prove that the disappearance of Nicola Bulley was staged.

Whilst there has been necessary scrutiny on the people who do know better than the conspiracy theories they share, it is their followers, the vulnerable people who find themselves entangled in this world of lies, that Spring so often powerfully explores in her reporting.

Anxiety, uncertainty and social media algorithms can push someone from genuine concerns to extreme beliefs. In the book she speaks to the people who have fallen into the rabbit hole and now live a life of constant anxiety and loneliness, with many severing relationships with friends and family in the process.

Her fearlessness in exposing this world of lies has come at a personal cost.

Last year, she was subjected to a staggering 80% of all online hate directed at BBC employees, an experience which has escalated to the real world, with threats written on a notice board outside a tube station close to her work and abuse shouted at her at protests.

But she remains undeterred and this book, which brings together her reporting from the last four years, is an ideal entry point for anyone who wants to properly understand the threat posed by conspiracy theories.

Among the Trolls is published by Atlantic (£18.99)