"It was through Schulman and his early internet culture film-turned-TV series Catfish that I learned how to protect myself online. Growing up, I had an abstinence-only perspective on the internet, courtesy of my parents; I was warned not to believe anything I saw and not to meet anyone I chatted with. But of course I stumbled onto websites I didn't intend to and received messages I didn't ask for."
"After nine seasons over 12 years, MTV has canceled Catfish. I'm not surprised: The show gave millions of people the tools to do exactly what its hosts did. I've reverse-image-searched many questionable Facebook profile pictures, paid for reverse-phone-lookup directories to trace suspicious numbers, and tracked down addresses of my high school teachers out of sheer boredom, all because of a series on the same network as Ridiculousness."
"The show attracted negative attention at times. In 2018 crew members were accused of sexual misconduct by a former participant; in 2014 Schulman revealed in his memoir that he was " tossed out" of Sarah Lawrence College for punching a woman. But viewers pushed through the controversies because Catfish was salacious and revealing. Catfish predated the rabid online culture surrounding true crime fandom, the dominance of dating app culture, and the advanced tactics of scam culture."
Nev Schulman and the film-turned-TV series Catfish taught practical techniques for recognizing and investigating online deception. Viewers learned to use reverse-image searches, reverse-phone-lookup directories, and other tracing methods to verify identities and uncover false personas. MTV canceled Catfish after nine seasons over 12 years, but millions had already adopted the show's investigative tactics. The show faced controversies, including 2018 accusations of crew sexual misconduct and Schulman's revelation that he was "tossed out" of Sarah Lawrence College for punching a woman. The term catfishing entered common usage as creating fake identities to deceive, scam, or manipulate online users.
Read at Slate Magazine
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