- [Narrator] For all the
good the Internet's done, it's also created a whole new problem for people and brands
alike the internet troll, sometimes funny, sometimes irritating and occasionally downright diabolical, trolls are everywhere online,
they mock, abuse and confuse, whenever the chance arises, all behind the comforting
mask of anonymity if knowledge is power this
video will give you the power, to avoid being trolled
by exploring 10 times, people got trolled hard by the internet. Number 10, prankster support, the social media teams of
big companies are trained, to always reply in an
exceptionally friendly manner, unfortunately, their friendliness
and willingness to humor, even the most ridiculous
sounding complaints and queries, naturally attracts trolls like honey, one classic example sees
Twitter user Haraam, flagging up UK based
supermarket chain Tesco for a store selling two
week out of date food, when very nicely asked where he bought it, Haraam naturally declares
that he's not a grass and refuses to elaborate, another British man claimed
to have seen a snake in a Tesco store he received a response from a concerned member of the Tesco team but eventually concluded that, in fact this snake was
actually just his ex as far as I know Tesco doesn't
offer ex relationship therapy but this guy needs some, similarly a user with the
simple tasteful moniker fart, got in touch with Qdoba Mexican grill, expressing concern over
a man with a diaper, drinking directly from a
restaurant soda fountain, when asked for more details
on what he'd witnessed, Fart revealed that he hadn't
actually been reporting an observation but was instead asking if that type of thing was allowed, you know, so he could go ahead and have a nice drinking style, X-Box's customer service
department were also left seething after lonely dad asked for help, X-Box support were more than happy to help but lonely dad living up through his name, simply replied with why
did my wife leave me? I'm sure X-Box has been
the cause of a few divorces but customer support might
not be the best people, to fill that question. Number nine, trolls and polls, what could be better to
attract attention to a company or cause than getting the
public to vote on something with real-world outcomes
what could possibly go wrong? Famously in 2016 the natural
environment research council in the UK held a poll for the
name of a new research vessel and the public valiantly delivered, the result was a landslide, the boat was to be
called Boaty McBoatface, unfortunately the research council, didn't seem to find this
boat size troll funny and ignored the name, going instead for the
sir David Attenborough, they did however name, one of the onboard submersible
vehicles Boaty McBoatface, which is a happy middle ground, though as a submersible
they should have called it Subby Mcmersible but before
McBoatface there was a whale, after a 2007 poll started by Greenpeace, to raise awareness of
the threat posed to Wales by Japanese fishing practices, a humpback whale was officially
named Mister splashy pants, Humprey came in second with
less than 3% of the vote, the result came after
message boards like 4Chan, Reddit and Digg caught wind of the poll, seeing the potential for top tier trolling and bombarded it with votes,
Greenpeace honored democracy, and Mister splashy pants
is still being tracked, to observe his movements
around the South Pacific but it's not just governmental
agencies and charities, that have foolishly let
the internet make decisions in 2012 TV channel VH1 held a contest, to determine the location
for a Taylor Swift concert and the irony loving
trolls of the internet, decided on a Boston school for the deaf, though the star decided
against playing the spot, she did donate $10,000 to the school with free tickets to Taylor's
next Boston appearance, being offered to every pupil, hopefully subtitles were available, while many brands have since
cottoned on to the potential, attention afforded by
humorous responses to post, these three were the OG
victims of the troll poll and will be forever (indistinct)
in internet history. Number eight, the hot new trend, occasionally, internet
jokes was to initiate, ridiculous trends and events
by spreading fake news articles or Photoshopping semi believable
images before sitting back and letting chaos ensue,
one journalist for example, published an entirely bogus
medical journal article, which suggested dark chocolate was miraculously helpful in weight loss, this was then picked up as real, by countless big name news
sites and even TV stations, making headlines before it's
author revealed the trickery but perhaps the greatest
fake trend of all time, occurred in 2014 a series of fake ads are put into circulation
for a system update, they would allow Iphones to be charged, using any household microwave, the ads weren't incredibly convincing but astonishingly the campaign, which began on 4Chan
convinced plenty of people, to microwave their phones, obviously, this caused
fires, broken microwave's and even exploding phones, several fire departments
send out emergency messages but it's hard to imagine
the brave men and women, working for them not
laughing or possibly crying at how gullible people can be. Number seven, Ken M if 4Chan
is home of cruel trolling, then Reddit is it's kind or
slightly more manageable sibling and one troll taking on the character of a dimwitted older gentleman named Ken M is so appreciated by the site, that he has his very own subreddit
with 491,000 subscribers, Ken is of the customer support
commenting school of trolls and his work spans hundreds
of hilarious posts, there's the time he asked Gerber, to bring back the cheap baby kibble, that folks could buy at the pet store, then there's Ken's unusual preference for combining shift YRD
with books and magazines, just like mama used to make and who could forget his
strongly held belief, that clean diapers are a privilege not a right for his grandson and of course Ken's long discussion on In and Out Burgers Facebook page, about how they used to be Arby's, Ken M is the role model
of every little troll, dreaming of becoming internet famous. Number six, bald as love
in 2012 a 4Chan troll, Photoshopped the fake
entertainment tonight tweet, about Justin Bieber having cancer, this image gained traction, spawning a stream of other accounts, claiming Justin's fans
were going bald for Bieber in solidarity with their idol, then the trend caught on among some fans, who were a little too
eager to grab the shaver, though the trend didn't catch on, to the extent its
original creator had hoped as most believers kept their
lucks firmly on their heads, it was popular enough to gain
widespread media attention for anyone who was gullible
enough to believe the hoax, considering all the situations, extreme stupidity can get you into, I guess this bald move
wasn't all that bad. Number five, King of the trolls in 2017 Burger King attempted
to be clever and edgy, by triggering all Google home
devices within listening range of one of their TV ads
the line, okay, Google, what is the Whopper burger? Prompted any nearby units
to describe the burger, including ingredients as
listed on its Wikipedia page but the internet rallied together, turning the rather invasive
joke around on Burger King, by adding cyanide to the
wikis ingredient list, of course, this meant
that all over the USA, families were being dutifully informed, that Burger King's most
popular product was poisonous, most of America was shocked and appalled, to discover that burgers are
bad for you of all things. Number four, pride and accomplishment in 2017, the internet
was up in arms about, EA Star Wars Battlefront two game, which required players to
spend real-world money, to unlock some of the franchises
most loved characters, unless of course they wanted
to spend dozens of hours, earning in game credits that is, trying to prove they had
customers interests at heart, EA commented on a Reddit thread, complaining about the disservice to fans, the representative claimed
the system was in place, to provide players with a sense
of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different
heroes and none as it seems, to make the company a butt load of money, this attempted damage control
was about as successful as a fighter pilot with narcolepsy, Reddit users were outraged and the whole pride and
accomplishment thing, soon became a viral meme, meanwhile, the comment
became the most downloaded in the site's history with
almost 700,000 down votes, it gained media attention
and secured EAs place as a source of intense frustration, among the gaming community, trolls continue to play EA to this day, posting about pride and accomplishment, whenever and wherever they can. Number three, seizure
warning not included, back in 2008 hackers from
the websites eBaums world and 7Chan grouped together and managed to post some
pretty inappropriate stuff on the epilepsy foundation's forum site, these forums allow people to share, how they deal with their epilepsy and are obviously intended as a safe space for suffers of the disease and surprisingly governed by
their twisted senses of humor, trolls chose to pepper the site with jarring strobe light gifts
these would appear at random and could only be stopped
by exiting the site, foreign users soon began reporting, that they'd suffered seizures
from the hacked site, which was the last thing they'd
expected in such a place, while corporate mishaps
and gullible fan girls, make for great troll fighter, targeting the physically
vulnerable crosses a line and shows the immature,
ugly side of trolling and they can be all too easily forgotten. Number two, mourning Margaret the musical in 2013 they were literal
parties in the street, when ex British prime minister
Margaret Thatcher died, sure that makes the people
of the UK sound pretty bad but she was an extremely
polarizing politician with some relentless and
controversial policies, when she died aged 87 some
of her biggest anti fans, united on Facebook to promote listening, to a famous Wizard of Oz
tune in Maggie's memory, the song was none other than
ding dong the witch is dead, the inherently British
ideas spread like wildfire, the tune sold over 52,000 copies and reached number two
in the UK singles chart and number one in the
Scottish singles chart, despite being 74 years old, the track was given new
life and new meaning in the strange, strange
times of the internet age, two of the surviving actors, who played munchkins in the 1939 film, even publicly voiced their
views on the whole affair, stating that they were ashamed, a song had been used in such a way but maybe they'd be better off, getting used to the obscenity
of the modern world, after all we're not Kansas anymore Toto. Number one, Locked tight, personal info protection company LifeLock, claims that for a mere $10 a month, it can prevent the theft of your identity, their ads of years past have claimed, that even if criminals have
your social security number, you're still safe with LifeLock, CEO Todd Davis was so
darn sure of this claim, that he published his actual, legitimate social security
number on billboards, websites and various other ads throughout America, predictably the trolls could not resist, this brought a whole new
meaning to social security as his social security number
was shared around social media like communion wafers
between 2007 and 2011 alone, the stubborn businessman's
identity was stolen 13 times, thousands of dollars of charges and small sum loans had
been run up in his name, since those face palm where
the ads first launched, which doesn't look great for
LifeLock though to be fair, I can't imagine many
customers are dumb enough, to tempt the criminals
and trolls out there, by plastering their social
security details on billboards, that role is reserved for the CEO as is of Dunn's cap in blazing
with his bank account details but the company head wasn't
the only one at risk, the whole fiasco triggered
various investigations, culminating with the chairman of the federal trade commission, noting that LifeLock security
systems contained holes, big enough to drive a truck through, a truck filled with trolls presumably with Todd's social security number, printed in bold on the side, trolls really tell us a lot
about how humans might act, without the responsibility of
consequences for our actions, I hope you've learned how to spot one but most importantly remember
never feed the trolls. - Oh my God. - [Narrator] Which troll did
you find the most interesting? What's the funniest troll
you've seen carried out online? Let me know in the comments section below, thanks for watching. (gentle music)
