“Ruining lives is just too much fun.” In one sentence is summed up the character of Hunter Moore, to whom Netflix devotes a documentary in three episodes entitled The Internet’s Most Hated Man.
The series also bears its name (taken from an article by rolling stones in 2012) since you should quickly add your name to the list of people who hate him. And given the man’s odious character, you don’t even have to wait for the end credits.
Revenge porn and harassment
Hunter Moore is the face behind the porn site IsAnyoneUp. Created in 2010, and deleted two years later, it hosts photos and videos of naked women and men: some people deliberately choose to send these images while others see their privacy violated because of former partners who upload such private content to the site.
Many pornographic images are also obtained as a result of several email account hacks. To make matters worse, IsAnyoneUp adds the direct link of the social networks (usually the Facebook account) of the victims, as well as their full name and city of residence. Result: they find themselves harassed by strangers with dozens or hundreds of abusive messages.
“I feel like I’m educating people about technology”
The Netflix program follows the crusade of Charlotte Laws, mother of one of the victims, determined to remove photos of her daughter from the “revenge porn” site and arrest its founder. Over the days, she collects the testimonies of 40 victims and builds her own case to bring down Hunter Moore. Her strength of conviction will allow her to challenge the FBI who, impressed, will even end up saying that she should work for them.
The documentary series has chosen to focus particularly on the point of view of this mother, even if it was not the director’s first idea. While he had initially agreed to participate, Hunter Moore ended up declining the invitation. The testimony comes out even more powerful, also making the character of the creator of the site even more detestable.
“People think I’m completely evil and what I’m doing is completely immoral, but at the end of the day, I feel like I’m educating people about technology,” he said in an interview with the BBC, among his most astounding quotes.
A return to the spotlight thanks to Netflix
On Form, The Internet’s Most Hated Man don’t invent anything new. Imagined by the creators of The Tinder Scammer and Don’t fuck with catswe stay in the codes that made the success of the genre: interviews face cam, tears of the victims, shocking remarks and a despicable character.
On the bottom, the series makes it possible to dwell on the credit that the media granted to Hunter Moore. Interviews on television, in the press, without his words and actions being questioned. “I’m just a businessman. I’m just monetizing the mistakes people make. But if it wasn’t me, someone else was going to do it. All I’ve done is really perfect the way to monetize people’s nude photos,” he said at the time.
Despite what happened to him when the site was closed (spoiler alert : two years in prison), Hunter Moore does not seem to have changed much. In an interview with YouTuber RDAP Dan on July 30, he said: “It’s probably going to sound horrible, but I’m proud of what I’ve created, I’m proud of the community I’ve created. I would definitely do it over and over again but I would do it in a different way and I would definitely take away any trauma that people have had because of the website or anything negative that happened through the site because at the I didn’t understand it at the time. Does the internet’s most hated man finally have a heart?
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