The most terrifying aspect of this story is that the perp clearly doesn’t have a clue. No shadowy cabal, no far-right mastermind or Bannonite figure. Just a bloke who wanted clicks with absolutely no sense of the consequences. Miserable stuff.
Before London Centric I spent 2013-2024 reporting to various degrees on the emergence/growth/horrors of online political news and campaigns.
People were always desperate for there to be a 'Russian bot farm' or shadowy cabal behind an online disinformation campaign.
And yes, sometimes that's the case.
But never dismiss what a load of bored men spending too much time on their phones are willing to do for free if you give them anonymity or the incentive of a few quid in ad revenue share.
I think a lot of people have no concept that what they do online can, and does, have real-world consequences. Although it looks from the article like this guy might be about to learn that lesson.
As a former London HT how often have I heard bullying boys excuse themselves by asserting that ‘It was just a joke Miss’ or ‘I never meant it Miss’. Thoughtless and mindlessly cruel these lads did it for a laugh or because it gave them a thrill to see their victims upset. This man is a grown up version of this and with far less excuse. Well done for investigating and I hope the Police take action.
As suspected it’s all about money - the power of incentives. I’d love an article that looked at the wider social media industrial complex impact on doing down London. How many hate spreaders are there and how much are they making from all this? What are the real world impacts in communities but also say foreign investment. Always amazed when I meet US colleagues that these videos inform much of their view of our city.
Great work covering this important topic, though I must admit I’m still a little suspicious of the contractor story. How do we know Wasserstrum is not lying again to protect himself? How did he find this person so fast? Of course the tape is very compelling but is there anything that can be independently verified?
Well it would have been easy for W to identify the culprit from their records of who ran which viewings. But I agree, I'm eager to see him face some consequences for refusing to name or report the perpetrator until now.
He's basically admitting he's just a parasite. Good to see a professional newspaper exposing this. This is the best way to neuter these creepy crawlies: shine a light on them.
Reader from Trump's America: What a well done investigation.
I can't help but to see a little Nick Shirley in the "Reform_UK_2025" TikToker. Shirley's Youtube videos about the Somali community gave the Trump Administration pretext to launch near-martial law in Minneapolis.
The original sin that produced this imbecile is when social media sites started paying people for going viral. Of course it would devolve into baseless hate (and now AI slop) almost instantly. You can't change human greed, but you can stop these tech oligopolies from explicitly incentivizing it.
The most terrifying aspect of this story is that the perp clearly doesn’t have a clue. No shadowy cabal, no far-right mastermind or Bannonite figure. Just a bloke who wanted clicks with absolutely no sense of the consequences. Miserable stuff.
Before London Centric I spent 2013-2024 reporting to various degrees on the emergence/growth/horrors of online political news and campaigns.
People were always desperate for there to be a 'Russian bot farm' or shadowy cabal behind an online disinformation campaign.
And yes, sometimes that's the case.
But never dismiss what a load of bored men spending too much time on their phones are willing to do for free if you give them anonymity or the incentive of a few quid in ad revenue share.
That is the most depressing thing I've read all year - and this is 2026.
I think a lot of people have no concept that what they do online can, and does, have real-world consequences. Although it looks from the article like this guy might be about to learn that lesson.
As a former London HT how often have I heard bullying boys excuse themselves by asserting that ‘It was just a joke Miss’ or ‘I never meant it Miss’. Thoughtless and mindlessly cruel these lads did it for a laugh or because it gave them a thrill to see their victims upset. This man is a grown up version of this and with far less excuse. Well done for investigating and I hope the Police take action.
As suspected it’s all about money - the power of incentives. I’d love an article that looked at the wider social media industrial complex impact on doing down London. How many hate spreaders are there and how much are they making from all this? What are the real world impacts in communities but also say foreign investment. Always amazed when I meet US colleagues that these videos inform much of their view of our city.
Money and incentives, but don't leave out right wing populists' preferences.
Great work covering this important topic, though I must admit I’m still a little suspicious of the contractor story. How do we know Wasserstrum is not lying again to protect himself? How did he find this person so fast? Of course the tape is very compelling but is there anything that can be independently verified?
Agree, Wasserstrum is definitely dodgy.
Well it would have been easy for W to identify the culprit from their records of who ran which viewings. But I agree, I'm eager to see him face some consequences for refusing to name or report the perpetrator until now.
He's basically admitting he's just a parasite. Good to see a professional newspaper exposing this. This is the best way to neuter these creepy crawlies: shine a light on them.
This is really terrifying. And goes nearly with the economist last week, which debunked a lot of the online hate about London. Great reporting.
Great journalism, thank you for this insightful report. Hatred must not be allowed to win.
Excellent investigation. Extremely depressing. Basing one’s morals on platform algorithms and ad payouts is something else…
… and people just lap it up.
The thing is soon this kind of rage content won’t even require much human effort, if any.
It was obvious that he was doing it for engagement, views and money, like another guy from Sri Lanka was exposed to be doing the same on Facebook.
The question is why the social media platforms have not been forced to take measures against this? The governments need to do more
Reader from Trump's America: What a well done investigation.
I can't help but to see a little Nick Shirley in the "Reform_UK_2025" TikToker. Shirley's Youtube videos about the Somali community gave the Trump Administration pretext to launch near-martial law in Minneapolis.
"I don't care. I just wanted the clicks." What a depressing and apposite thing for this fellow to say. Says an awful lot about so many things.
Great reporting, Jim, especially when added to the Epstein/London stuff. London is a bad place - just not in the way the TikTok man portrays.
The original sin that produced this imbecile is when social media sites started paying people for going viral. Of course it would devolve into baseless hate (and now AI slop) almost instantly. You can't change human greed, but you can stop these tech oligopolies from explicitly incentivizing it.
Somebody should just blast London with love, regardless of whether they make money off of that or not. I volunteer!
Bonkers story … the disregard for other humans so that you can start a hatred and racist fuelled side hustle.. bruh
Just wrote this on Epstein affair with Italian Princess https://open.substack.com/pub/nimnim1/p/epstein-italian-princess-saga i linked to london centric