Yahoo News ‘Deadly Influence’ Docuseries on Social Media Murders Set at ID (Exclusive)
Murder sparked by bizarre online posts or obsessions? There’s an app for that.
So says Investigation Discovery’s latest docuseries, Deadly Influence: The Social Media Murders, set for a June premiere on ID and Max. A new trailer (below) for the ID six-parter points to social media posts and communities getting dangerous and destructive as they lead to infamous true-crime cases.
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“It can get very toxic, very quickly,” viewers are warned. Talos Films, the creators of ID’s Armie Hammer docuseries House of Hammer, are behind the Deadly Influence series, about the dark underbelly of digital age crimes, whose trails started with a venomous community or social media post.
The six-part series premieres June 3 with an episode about a self-styled Instagram “sex and fitness guru” whose break up with another high-profile influencer culminated in a violent, senseless act.
Other social media criminal cases set for the Deadly Influence series include one on a young TikTok star facing followers wanting to silence her, and stopping at nothing to do so; and another on an online mental health advocate looking to change lives, only to face young men primed to threaten, harm and attack.
The ID series will also tackle cases of a popular teenage film reviewer on YouTube getting dragged into a shocking world of guns and revenge; a young woman building her brand online, only to disappear on the eve of Halloween; and an online creative community for love and inclusion being targeted by an online and hateful “manosphere” with shocking consequences.
The logline reads: “Deadly Influence tackles a wide range of cases from all corners of the digital landscape. From individuals seeking community who end up being targeted by toxic forums patrolled by angry, misogynistic rhetoric to popular social media personalities who have heartbreaking, hidden lives, the series will pull back the curtain on the dark intricacies of social media and the dangers that lurk within. While social media may appear as the key to opportunity and validation – the ability to build a career as an influencer and access wealth, celebrity, power and find communities that offer connectivity – involvement in these digital environments can breed a dangerous type of reality.”
Deadly Influence follows the rating success of ID’s Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, a docuseries about former Nickelodeon producer Dan Schneider that alleged abuse, sexism, racism and inappropriate behavior involving underage stars and crewmembers on his popular shows.
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