Recommended: The Most Hated Man on the Internet on Netflix
What's The Most Hated Man on the Internet About?
After her daughter's hacked nude photos are uploaded to a revenge porn website, Charlotte Laws begins a years-long campaign to bring the site's founder to justice.
Who's involved?
Why (and to whom) do we recommend it?
This is the way to tell a victim's story. While the filmmakers spend ample time documenting Hunter Moore's odious reign as a revenge porn maestro, including his efforts to shame and harass the many people whose nudes were on his website, the series is shaped around Charlotte Laws and the others who fought back.
With Laws at its center, the series manages to craft a hopeful arc that highlights how a dedicated woman — with help from the FBI, the hacker collective Anonymous, and several others — actually got justice. This respect for the victimized extends to the filmmaking, as well: Instead of showing the original, illegally obtained nudes, the show's producers stage recreations by working with models from I Shot Myself, an ethical erotic website where adults are paid for uploading sexy pics.
As sensitively as it approaches its subjects, there are a few ethical quandries the series leaves unexplored. It interviews some of Hunter Moore's biggest online fans, for instance, without pressing them on why they supported him in the first place, or why some were so quick to degrade and even threaten his detractors. It also fails to interrogate the tactics of Anonymous, the online hacking collective that illegally tampered with Moore's bank account and personal information.
Still, this is an uncommonly thoughtful and empathetic show that tells a gripping story without exploiting the people it profiles. That's a rarity and something worth celebrating.
Pairs well with
TOPICS: The Most Hated Man on the Internet, Netflix, Alex Marengo, Alice Duffy, Charlotte Laws, Kayla Laws, Rob Miller, Vikki Miller