Disaster Trolls: 9. What They Don’t Tell You About Terror

Travis survived the Westminster Bridge attack, but he didn’t expect what came next. Are victims of terrorism taken seriously enough when they seek help against abusive trolling?

A terror attack outside the Houses of Parliament in March 2017 left five people dead, while 50 more - including Travis - were injured. As Travis lay recovering in hospital, he opened his phone and saw a death threat that accused him of being a “crisis actor” paid to fake the attack. More were to follow.

But Travis says when he sought action to stop the abuse, he came up against a lack of awareness. He feels badly let down by the response he received. So is this a problem that society should be doing more to combat, and if so whose responsibility is it?

In this BBC Radio 4 podcast series, the BBC’s disinformation and social media correspondent Marianna Spring, investigates how survivors of UK terror attacks and tragedies are targeted with horrific conspiracy theories, online abuse and threats.

Across this series - and in this episode - there are graphic descriptions of violence.

Presenter: Marianna Spring Producer: Ant Adeane Editor: Ed Main