From online polls gone wrong to epic internet pranks, these trolling acts pushed boundaries and created internet history. Join us as we count down the most ruthless trolling moments ever! Our list includes internet legends, corporate disasters, and celebrity pranks that left the world laughing, confused, or outraged. Which act of digital mischief do you think deserves the top spot?
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00:00And then that's when 4chan kind of reared into action.
00:03Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the funniest, most famous,
00:08and most merciless acts of trolling the internet has ever seen.
00:12Now some people, including nearby business owners, tell me it's attracting the wrong crowd.
00:18Number 20, prank calls.
00:20Hello?
00:21Hi, you're on the air.
00:22Hi. How you doing?
00:23Okay.
00:25What? What is it?
00:27The act of trolling long predates the internet.
00:30One of the lost stars of humanity is prank calling live TV shows and throwing the conversation wildly off track.
00:36In this legendary viral video, public access host Ken Sander is bombarded with prank calls while trying to discuss the right to carry handguns.
00:44The calls are relentless, with the pranks varying from goofy and harmless to bizarrely personal.
00:49Hi, Ken.
00:49Yes.
00:50I think it's good that people can have handguns so we can shoot people like you.
00:53Right.
00:54Despite the onslaught, Sander remains professionally composed throughout, adding another degree of hilarity to the video.
01:00The poor guy can't catch a break, and we do feel bad for him, but no one can watch this video without giggling like a child.
01:06Hello?
01:06Hello.
01:07Good evening.
01:09Hello?
01:09Hello. How you doing?
01:10Good evening.
01:11Number 19, Andy Kaufman.
01:13I want to be the biggest star in the world.
01:18People love comedians.
01:19I'm not a comedian. I don't do jokes. I don't even know what's funny.
01:23While he's now regarded as a legend, no one really knew what to make of Andy Kaufman in the 70s and 80s.
01:28While many people considered him a comedian, Kaufman never referred to himself as such.
01:32So, what do we call him?
01:33Performance artist, maybe?
01:35Or, if we may, a troll.
01:37Whether he was staging fake feuds, making a controversial alter ego, singing to Mighty Mouse on SNL, or reading The Great Gatsby on stage,
01:45Kaufman got off on playing with his audience.
01:47In fact, he was such a legendary troll that many people think he faked his death and that his cancer diagnosis was just another elaborate prank on the public.
01:54Dad, I cried when he broke his neck. He's not getting me again.
01:57Jesus Christ, Carly's got lung cancer.
02:00He wants us scratching our heads, asking ourselves, is this real?
02:04Number 18, cooking iPhones.
02:06You got guts, iPhone users, because 4chan was up to some evil-slash-slightly-brilliant-slash-kind-of-funny-if-you're-not-a-victim trickery this past weekend.
02:16As we'll learn throughout this list, 4chan is responsible for some of the all-time greatest trolls.
02:21In 2013, the website's users created a fake ad claiming that new iPhones had a feature called Wave, which allowed the iPhone to be charged in the microwave.
02:30All you had to do was pop it in, nuke it for 90 seconds, and voila, charged phone.
02:34The ad looked quite legit and contained enough faux-technobabble to fool a few people.
02:39Some victims posted their supposedly destroyed phones on social media.
02:42While these photos may have been faked, it still prompted the LAPD to issue public warnings against microwaving your phone.
02:48They probably didn't have that on their 2014 bingo card.
02:51Now, instead of lambasting the unfortunate souls who jiffy-popped their smartphones,
02:55I'd much rather give proper props to the impressive intricacies of the fabricated ad.
02:59Number 17, the GameStop short squeeze.
03:02Ten years after Occupy Wall Street, there's a new type of financial protest.
03:06But instead of marches in Zuccotti Park, these protesters are sounding off on social media sites,
03:13calling for stock tips that will make the group rich while hurting hedge funds on the other side of the trade.
03:19Sometimes, trolling has enormous consequences.
03:22Just ask the people who lost billions in the GameStop squeeze of 2021.
03:26Hedge funds were betting that the company's stock would go down, so the stock was heavily shorted.
03:30Well, Reddit wasn't having that.
03:32A group of retail investors from Our Wall Street Bets decided to buy as many shares in GameStop as possible,
03:38thereby driving up the stock price instead of letting it fall.
03:41In fact, GameStop went up from around $20 to $500 at its peak.
03:46Private investors, like those on Reddit, made a real hefty profit, while some hedge funds lost billions of dollars.
03:52The system is broken right now for certain stocks, for the heavily, heavily shorted stocks.
03:57And people are thinking somehow, well, this is a home run.
04:00Take the home run. Don't go for the grand slam. Take the home run.
04:04You've already won. You've won the game.
04:07Yeah.
04:07You're done.
04:08Number 16, Jon Titor
04:10Wait a minute. Wait a minute, doc.
04:12Are you telling me that you built a time machine out of a DeLorean?
04:19Let us take you back to the early 2000s, when a figure known as Jon Titor made his stamp on internet culture.
04:25Titor claimed to be a time traveler from the year 2036, and posted on sites like the Time Travel Institute and Art Bell's post-to-post forums.
04:33He described a dystopian future ravaged by nuclear war and disease,
04:37all while posting photos of his time machine and answering questions about how it worked.
04:41People were genuinely thrilled by this, and it became a huge story in various internet circles.
04:46But, of course, it was all a hoax, and people eventually caught on.
04:49To this day, no one knows who was responsible, but the most credible suspect is a Florida lawyer named Larry Haber.
04:55The delusional architecture is fairly unique.
04:58She believes that a machine called a Terminator, which looks human, of course, was sent back through time to kill her.
05:06That's original.
05:07Number 15, the Burger King Twitter hack.
05:09On Monday, Burger King became the target of a hacker's prank.
05:13Allegedly, it is from a group that is called Loose Sick.
05:16Companies thrive on PR, so a hacked social media feed has to be an enormous headache.
05:21On February 18, 2013, the official Twitter account of Burger King was compromised,
05:26and it remained under the imposter's control for just under an hour.
05:29In that time, they posted a variety of obscenities and racial epithets,
05:33made various references to drug use, and changed the profile picture to the McDonald's logo,
05:38writing, just got sold to McDonald's because the Whopper flopped.
05:41Burger King eventually regained control of the feed, and issued a public apology.
05:46While it could have been a PR disaster, this incident actually spread across the internet
05:50and gained Burger King about 60,000 new followers.
05:58Number 14, Tay turns racist.
06:00Now, other users on Twitter do appear to have been baiting her a little bit with provocative questions.
06:05That was designed to make this robot react in a sort of slightly offensive way, anyway.
06:12Needless to say, Microsoft has now taken Tay offline after less than 24 hours.
06:16Releasing bots onto the internet is never a good idea.
06:19In 2016, Microsoft unveiled their chatbot Tay on Twitter, encouraging users to interact with it.
06:25As you can imagine, the internet had its fun.
06:27You see, Tay was programmed to learn from its interactions with real humans,
06:31and these humans began teaching it some very naughty things.
06:34Before long, Tay was hitting on users with sexually explicit remarks,
06:38unleashing racist tirades, and denying the Holocaust.
06:41After just 16 hours on the site, Microsoft was forced to shut Tay down,
06:45writing that it suffered a coordinated attack by a subset of people.
06:48In other words, the trolls got a hold of her.
07:01Number 13, Boaty McBoatface.
07:09In 2016, Britain's Natural Environment Research Council asked the public to name their new polar vessel.
07:14When will they learn?
07:16BBC presenter James Hand jokingly suggested Boaty McBoatface, and the internet went wild.
07:22With nearly 125,000 votes, it was the clear winner of the poll,
07:26handedly defeating frontrunners like Poppy Mai and It's Bloody Cold Here.
07:30Naturally, the NERC didn't really like Boaty McBoatface and vetoed the name,
07:34instead going with RRS Sir David Attenborough.
07:37To their credit, the council stayed somewhat true to its word
07:40and gave the name Boaty McBoatface to one of the ship's autonomous submarines.
07:44Eh, we'll take it.
07:54Number 12, Fred Durst Society of the Humanities and Arts.
07:57Back in 2011, the people of Austin, Texas voted on a new name for the city's Solid Waste Services Department.
08:09Many individuals submitted potential names, although some of them had no connection to waste management.
08:14Suggestions included Department of Neat and Clean, Ministry of Filth, and Hufflepuff.
08:19The winner, however, was the Fred Durst Society of the Humanities and Arts.
08:23Suggested by Kyle Henches, the name received almost 30,000 votes.
08:27Believe it or not, the Limp Bizkit vocalist actually seemed enthusiastic about the online poll,
08:32tweeting,
08:36Regardless, the city ultimately decided to call the department Austin Resource Recovery.
08:40How inspired.
08:47Number 11, Taylor Swift's Biggest Fan Contest.
08:53There is nothing to worry about.
08:56You're gonna be just fine.
08:59I'll take good care of you.
09:00When Boston's Kiss 108 FM set up a contest for one lucky fan to meet Taylor Swift in 2013,
09:06they probably expected young girls to be the target demographic.
09:09In an unexpected turn of events, the winner was a grown man named Charles Z.
09:13After an anonymous user saw that Charles had entered the contest,
09:16they started a petition on behalf of their quote-unquote creepy 39-year-old friend.
09:21Voters decided to give Charles the chance to meet the country pop star and snip her hair.
09:25Upon seeing that Charles had claimed the top spot, the radio station cancelled the contest,
09:30stating that its integrity had been compromised.
09:32Way to crush Chucky's dreams.
09:34Oh well, we're sure he'll shake it off.
09:43Number 10, Operation Troll the NSA.
09:45We all have a stake in this. This is our country.
09:48And the balance of power between the citizenry and the government
09:52is becoming that of the ruling and the ruled,
09:55as opposed to actually, you know, the elected and the electorate.
09:59After Edward Snowden leaked classified documents,
10:01the National Security Agency was exposed for tapping into the systems of various U.S. internet companies
10:07using a surveillance program called PRISM.
10:09The internet retaliated with Operation Troll the NSA,
10:12a website dedicated to jamming the intelligence organization's spy scanners.
10:16Providing a keywords-of-terror-filled script,
10:19the online countdown encouraged people to call or email someone at 7 p.m. EDT,
10:24Eastern Daylight Time, on June 12, 2013.
10:27Just imagine millions of Americans using words like overthrow, oppressive, and bomb
10:32all at the exact same time.
10:33While this act of rebellion probably didn't change anything,
10:36it's safe to say that the NSA got the message.
10:38There's a bomb in the truck!
10:39There's a bomb in the truck!
10:41There's a bomb in the truck!
10:43There's a bomb in the truck!
10:46There's a bomb in the truck!
10:52Welcome to New York.
11:03Justin Bieber attracts internet trolls like flies to honey.
11:06In 2010, an online poll was launched to determine where Bieber would perform next on his My World Tour.
11:12All the non-believers on 4chan seized this opportunity
11:15to send the young musical artist to North Korea.
11:18On Faxo's poll page, North Korea came out on top with over 650,000 votes.
11:23And this wouldn't be the last time something like this happened.
11:26In 2012, a petition was started to send rapper Pitbull to Kodiak, Alaska
11:30using the hashtag, hashtag ExilePitbull.
11:33Like a good sport, he actually went through with it.
11:35As for Bieber, he never went to North Korea since the contest reportedly wasn't legitimate.
11:40Thought you'd always be mine, mine.
11:44Number 8. Patton Oswalt trolls Twitter.
11:46Once this thing hits 88 miles an hour, we're gonna be genuinely surprised.
11:50Trolling isn't restricted to anonymous users.
11:52Sometimes celebrities get in on the fun too.
11:55Comedian Patton Oswalt became one of Twitter's most notorious trolls
11:58when he sent out several ignorant tweets about controversial subjects.
12:02Naturally, many of his followers were infuriated.
12:04Upon further inspection, however, people realized that the joke was on them.
12:08Each offensive tweet was merely one half of a two-part statement.
12:12For example, when Oswalt writes,
12:14whites and darks should be kept separate,
12:16he was actually talking about laundry.
12:18Whether you found the prank funny, outrageous, or a bit of both,
12:21nobody can deny Oswalt is a master of his craft.
12:24Thank you. Thank you all.
12:26Oh, dear God in heaven.
12:29Thank you for that. Wow.
12:31Number 7. Project Canology.
12:33The extent of your malign influence
12:35over those who have come to trust you as leaders
12:37has been made clear to us.
12:39Anonymous has therefore decided that your organization should be destroyed.
12:434chan users don't like it when you engage in censorship.
12:46In 2008, the Church of Scientology
12:48attempted to remove a leaked video of Tom Cruise
12:50promoting the controversial movement.
12:524chan users saw their takedown notice
12:54as an attack on free speech,
12:56and all hell broke loose.
12:58Anonymous declared war on the church
13:00and trolled them to no end.
13:02They made countless prank calls
13:04and sent numerous black faxes to Waystink,
13:06conducted DDoS attacks on their websites,
13:08and even attended protests
13:10outside Scientology centers wearing Guy Fawkes masks.
13:12The movement received significant media coverage
13:14and helped raise awareness
13:16about the unethical practices of Scientology.
13:18We start getting numbers in.
13:20And Sydney.
13:22We're thinking that it's going to be 50 people.
13:24And before 10 a.m.,
13:26before even time,
13:28there's already 50 people there.
13:30And there's still streams of people walking down the street.
13:326. Dubbed the Dew
13:38Yet another poll
13:40invaded by 4chan trolls,
13:42the Dubbed the Dew campaign was intended to help
13:44Mountain Dew select the name for a Green Apple soft drink.
13:46As you might have guessed,
13:48the polls soon became littered with extremely crude
13:50and unsuitable suggestions.
13:52The top choice was an especially offensive name
13:54involving a certain German dictator.
13:56Gee, we wonder why the company
13:58didn't go with that one.
14:00Some people later admitted on Twitter
14:02that Dubbed the Dew definitely lost to the internet,
14:04as these kinds of things often do.
14:06In all honesty though,
14:08wouldn't it have been pretty awesome if they named it Soylent Green?
14:10Soylent Green! It's refreshing.
14:12And people.
14:185. Nathan Fielder ruins relationships
14:20My name is Nathan Fielder,
14:22and I graduated from one of Canada's top business schools
14:24with really good grades.
14:26Comedian Nathan Fielder
14:28likes to use Twitter as a platform
14:30to instigate hysterical pranks.
14:32On one occasion,
14:34he asked his followers to text their parents
14:36and hit them up for drugs.
14:38On the heels of that ingenious prank,
14:40Fielder set out to ruin even more relationships.
14:42This time, he instructed people
14:44to text their significant other a message saying
14:46I haven't been fully honest with you.
14:48People would then wait an hour before responding.
14:50The prank left countless lovers confused,
14:52distressed, and devastated.
14:54Alas, sometimes you need to break a few hearts
14:56for the sake of comedy.
15:044. Hashtag Cosby Meme
15:06He was Dr. Huxtable. He was America's dad.
15:08Everybody loved him. I loved him.
15:10I wanted him to be my dad.
15:12Memes say the darndest things,
15:14especially when the subject of them is facing assault accusations.
15:16After decades of building a family-friendly reputation,
15:18Bill Cosby's image was shattered
15:20when multiple women accused him of sexual assault.
15:22Just when it looked like his PR nightmare
15:24couldn't possibly get any worse,
15:26fuel was added to the flames.
15:28Cosby's social media team dared people to meme him.
15:30This, of course,
15:32ended up being a huge miscalculation
15:34as Cosby's website was quickly flooded
15:36with a tidal wave of memes,
15:38none of which portrayed him in an especially positive light.
15:40The meme generator was later removed,
15:42but the internet wasn't done taking shots
15:44at the once-beloved comedian,
15:46and it may never be.
16:003. Over 9000
16:08Originating from Dragon Ball Z,
16:10It's Over 9000 was one of the most widespread
16:12memes on the web.
16:14In 2008, an anonymous user got Oprah Winfrey
16:16That's right, Oprah Winfrey
16:18to reference this popular meme
16:20on her talk show.
16:22Winfrey had no idea she was being trolled, however.
16:24Claiming to be a member of a fictional network,
16:26the user left a crude post on the Oprah.com
16:28message boards, hoping that the host would read it out.
16:30And when she did,
16:32anime fans everywhere dropped their jaws.
16:34While the subject is no laughing matter,
16:36this moment did result in more
16:38hilarious memes.
16:40Oprah does not forgive, and Oprah does not forget.
16:482. He Will Not Divide Us
17:04Shia LaBeouf,
17:06determined to make an artistic statement against Donald Trump,
17:08launched He Will Not Divide Us,
17:10a livestream protest that was quickly hijacked
17:12by 4chan trolls.
17:14Because of course it was.
17:16After multiple disruptions, LaBeouf relocated
17:18the project to an undisclosed location.
17:20Just a white flag reading,
17:22He Will Not Divide Us, waving under an empty sky.
17:24Re-enter 4chan.
17:26Using livestream footage,
17:28star positions, flight patterns,
17:30and even frog noises, they found the flag
17:32in Royal Tennessee.
17:34Operatives tore it down, and replaced it with a
17:36MAGA hat, and a Pepe shirt.
17:38And the field was later set on fire.
17:40LaBeouf then moved the project from America
17:42to Europe, stating that,
17:44America is simply not safe enough for this artwork to exist.
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18:181. 4chan takes over
18:20the Time 100 magazine poll
18:284chan is responsible for some of the most
18:30epic troll moments ever.
18:32But nothing can quite top the time they took over
18:34the Time magazine poll.
18:36In 2009, the magazine set up their annual poll,
18:38the Time 100, for the world's most
18:40influential people.
18:42Coming out on top of the list, with 16 million votes,
18:44was Moot, a.k.a. Christopher Poole,
18:46the founder of 4chan.
18:48There's little doubt that Poole's legion of followers
18:50had something to do with these results.
18:52Said followers also managed to ensure
18:54the first letter of the poll's top 21 nominees
18:56spelled out Marblecake, also the game,
18:58which is the name of a 4chan
19:00communication channel.
19:02If you famously hacked the time.com site
19:04and made yourself the winner
19:06of the online poll,
19:08are you going to hack this event too?
19:10No plans for that.
19:12Not yet, at least.
19:14Be honest, did you partake in any of these?
19:16Let us know in the comments below.
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