5 cybercrime documentaries to watch after ‘The Most Hated Man on the Internet’

By Malavika Pradeep

Updated Nov 21, 2023 at 03:56 PM

Reading time: 3 minutes

34253

One website, one man, thousands of users and innumerable victims: this is the appalling story behind Netflix’s three-part documentary chronicling the rise and downfall of The Most Hated Man on the Internet. Released on 27 July 2022, the docuseries revisits one of the most shocking cases of exploitation and privacy invasion to date.

In 2010, the gross spectacle of a human being that is Hunter Moore launched a website called IsAnyoneUp. While it was created with a focus on scene culture, the website quickly turned into a forum for revenge porn like AnonMe—where people could post and peruse private photos of anyone they could find, often with screenshots and links to their Facebook and Instagram profiles as well as their phone numbers and even home addresses.

Designed for public humiliation on a scale only the internet can offer, Moore quickly gathered a cult following called ‘The Family’ who referred to the creator as ‘Father’. While Moore profited off the website by running advertisements and selling merchandise, The Most Hated Man on the Internet hinges on the victims who brought him down, more specifically, a parent seeking justice instead of giving into the blatant case of cyberbullying.

As The Most Hated Man on the Internet continues to grip audiences and reignite conversations about the regulation of user-generated content forums, here are five other cybercrime documentaries reminding us once again that “the internet never forgets.”

1. Zara McDermott: Revenge Porn (2021)

5 cybercrime documentaries to watch after ‘The Most Hated Man on the Internet’

Zara McDermott shot to fame on Love Island in 2018. But while she was in the villa without her phone, McDermott was oblivious to her intimate photos being shared in several WhatsApp groups. When she left the show, a publicist arrived at her hotel to break the news of the rapidly circulating images. By this time, the story was also in the press.

While trolling and victim blaming left her devastated and looking for answers, McDermott realised that she wasn’t alone. The reality star then embarked on a quest to understand the impact revenge porn can have on its victims and shared stories of other individuals who had experienced the consequences of sending an explicit photograph to someone they thought they could trust.

2. Cyber Hell: Exposing an Internet Horror (2022)

5 cybercrime documentaries to watch after ‘The Most Hated Man on the Internet’

The central offence addressed in Cyber Hell: Exposing an Internet Horror is not cryptocurrency fraud or a dating hoax—but a series of sex crimes, including the trade of child sexual abuse imagery. The Netflix documentary, directed by Choi Jin-Seong, follows a chilling 2019 South Korean case in which online chat room operators coerced young women, including minors, into making and sending sexually explicit videos.

Through interviews with journalists and police, the documentary highlights a dark and terrifying reality that we are all susceptible to by simply existing on the internet without exploiting it.

3. Deep Web (2015)

5 cybercrime documentaries to watch after ‘The Most Hated Man on the Internet’

When you browse the internet and use search engines to find content, you’re engaging with the ‘surface web’. Whenever you input a password to log into a protected webpage (for instance, your email client, online banking, protected corporate or government websites), you are accessing the ‘dark web’. If you are going totally off the grid to find sites that are completely anonymous except through the use of special software, then you are on the ‘deep web’.

Narrated by Keanu Reeves, Deep Web recounts the cautionary tale of ‘The Silk Road’—an online marketplace for drugs and other illegal items that was launched in 2011—along with its 29-year-old founder named Ross Ulbricht. While the documentary explains the deep web, Tor and onion sites, it subtly nudges viewers to consider how the future of internet privacy affects us all.

4. You Have Won $9M! (2011)

5 cybercrime documentaries to watch after ‘The Most Hated Man on the Internet’

Directed by Hesam Dehghani, You Have Won $9M! investigates an email that read “You have won 9 million US dollars in 2011 Microsoft online lottery program” by setting a date with the scammers in a specific location to receive the award in person.

On the other end, it follows the real-life story of Vahid, a victim of the same internet fraud who lost thousands of dollars in the 2010 South Africa World Cup lottery email scam. His story is supported by interviews with four experts: a psychologist, a computer engineer and two cyber police colonels.

5. The Tinder Swindler (2022)

5 cybercrime documentaries to watch after ‘The Most Hated Man on the Internet’

Shortly after The Tinder Swindler hit Netflix on 2 February 2022, it became the streaming platform’s most-watched documentary with 166 million hours binged in its first 28 days. The story surrounds con artist Simon Leviev whose scheme was as follows: he would meet women on the dating app Tinder, lead them to believe he was a wealthy heir—son of the “king of diamonds” Lev Leviev, to be exact—working in the dangerous business as he eventually started long-distance relationships with them. All the while, however, he was found to have been “travelling for work” and living lavishly on the dime of his previous targets.

At the end of the day, The Tinder Swindler hints at issues with policing online activity that takes place across the world as well as crimes that are considered “small,” despite their devastating impact on victims.

Keep On Reading

By Charlie Sawyer

Is Brooklyn Beckham feuding with his family? Rumours circulate after the chef skips his dad David Beckham’s 50th birthday

By Eliza Frost

Sabrina Carpenter says you need to get out more if you think Man’s Best Friend artwork is controversial 

By Charlie Sawyer

Mexican beauty influencer Valeria Marquez killed during TikTok livestream in alleged femicide

By Charlie Sawyer

Who is Zohran Mamdani, the staunch socialist primed to become New York’s first Muslim mayor?

By Eliza Frost

Do artists really owe us surprise guests at gigs, or are our expectations out of control?

By Charlie Sawyer

Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper accuses former soccer coach of sexual harassment in new docuseries

By Charlie Sawyer

McDonald’s hit with new mass boycott. Here’s who’s behind it and why

By Charlie Sawyer

Trump grants white South Africans refuge after ending legal protections for Afghans facing deportation

By Eliza Frost

The Life of a Showgirl or The Life of a Tradwife? Unpicking Taylor Swift’s new album

By Eliza Frost

Taylor Swift’s Release Party of a Showgirl is coming to cinemas everywhere, and it’s already made $15M

By Eliza Frost

Does the SKIMS Face Wrap actually work, or is it just another TikTok trap?

By Abby Amoakuh

Campaigners call for gamers who carry out virtual rape in the metaverse to be charged as real-life sex offenders

By Eliza Frost

Gen Z can’t afford one-night stands as rising cost of living causes sex recession

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

Robert F. Kennedy Jr declares war on teen sperm count, stating it’s an existential crisis

By Eliza Frost

Taylor Swift announces new album on Travis Kelce’s podcast. Everything we know about TS12 so far

By Charlie Sawyer

Former Harry Potter star tells reporters he doesn’t understand JK Rowling’s Twitter transphobia

By Eliza Frost

Everyone’s posing like Nicki Minaj: the TikTok trend explained 

By Eliza Frost

Skibidi, tradwife, and delulu are among new words added to Cambridge Dictionary for 2025

By Charlie Sawyer

Madison Beer opens up about reconnecting with the person who leaked her explicit photos as a teen

By Charlie Sawyer

The #MeToo movement is at risk. How the Harvey Weinstein retrial risks doing unimaginable damage