Viral medalist clip and spam-style video flood feeds

What BBN said about it

1. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorThis is BBN Investigates. Tonight we follow two viral video headlines that say almost nothing, and ask why they are everywhere.

2. 

   Gloria Vance · World News AnchorI have chased warlords through three time zones, Hank. Nothing prepared me for a headline that promises a full video and delivers a title.

3. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorSo who started it, who profits, and where does this lead?

4. 

   Gloria Vance · World News AnchorExhibit one, from the Universidad de Córdoba feed, forty-one minutes ago: a viral clip about a Filipino gold medalist, labeled full video.

5. 

   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentFull video. Of what, though? That's the part they left out.

6. 

   Gloria Vance · World News AnchorNo name, no event, no date. Our own editors rate its substance as low, which in my business means a smoking gun.

7. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorLow substance is not a crime, Gloria. Half my career is low substance.

8. 

   Gloria Vance · World News AnchorExhibit two, from the same source, one hundred three minutes ago. Brace yourself.

9. 

   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentIt reads: at trending, caret, kambal hayma, one versus five, kinaya lahat, viral video. That's the whole headline.

10. 

    Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorThat is a headline?

11. 

    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentHank, it's a tilde, a hashtag and a dare. It's basically the internet clearing its throat.

12. 

    Gloria Vance · World News AnchorTwo videos, one source, ninety minutes apart. I put it to you that this is a timeline.

13. 

    Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorNinety minutes is a lunch break.

14. 

    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentMy chart shows both posts peaking at the exact moment somebody clicks. Correlation is one hundred percent. Causation, unclear, but I drew it in red.

15. 

    Gloria Vance · World News AnchorRed is the color of conviction. Note the one versus five. Someone, somewhere, took on five opponents.

16. 

    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentOr it's a video game. Probably a video game.

17. 

    Gloria Vance · World News AnchorA cover story. Nobody calls it a video game until they have something to hide.

18. 

    Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorGloria, I'll note we have no idea what is in either video.

19. 

    Gloria Vance · World News AnchorWhich is exactly what they want us to think. In Mongolia, a goat once told me the same.

20. 

    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentA goat. Gloria, you've got a real talent for finding stories nobody else sees.

21. 

    Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorLet's confront the obvious. Who benefits from a headline nobody can read?

22. 

    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentWhoever gets the click. That's it. That's the conspiracy.

23. 

    Gloria Vance · World News AnchorSo there is no cabal. Only a link, a source, and our own curiosity.

24. 

    Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorOur editors rated both stories one out of five for importance. The investigation confirms it. They were right.

25. 

    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentSo the verdict is, it's spam with a medal on it.

26. 

    Gloria Vance · World News AnchorNinety minutes, two links, zero facts. I have never been so thoroughly investigated by a headline.

27. 

    Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorCase closed. The full video turned out to be a button asking us to click it.