When was the last time you felt good about the Internet?

The online landscape today is a harrowing one.

People screaming at each other on social media.

Violent videos going viral.

You may find a video disturbing to watch.

Cyberbullying, racism, misogyny.

The internet wasn't always like this.

At one time, it gave power to the people.

Thirty million people made the global protest the largest in history.

Opposition activists organized the march on Facebook.

They have come in their hundreds of thousands.

So, how did we get here?

My name is Garrett Graf.

I'm a cybersecurity journalist and historian.

And this is Longshadow, season four, breaking the

internet. On this season of Longshadow, we're going to chart out the evolution of the

internet, from the optimistic days of the dot-com boom to our present moment, a time when the internet

is at the heart of so many of our problems. We'll trace how the internet changed from a tool that gave everyone a voice.

This is something that's going to democratize everything.

To an amplifier of lies, hoaxes, and conspiracies.

The anti-vaccination movement is growing due to a new wave of conspiracy theories shared through social media.

They're forced vaccinating our children.

...