Marianna Spring

Marianna Spring      (journalist, propagandist, presenter, spook?)
Born	21 February 1996
Alma mater	Oxford University/Pembroke College
Interests	• conspiracy theories • fake news • “hate speech” • internet censorship • “disinformation” • social media
Interest of	"Philip Cross"
BBC "disinformation" specialist. When criticised online for her "fact checking", Internet censorship is her answer.  Disinformation and Social Media Correspondent In office March 2020 - Present Employer BBC

Marianna Spring is a UK journalist and suspected spook seeking to promote internet censorship. She works with BBC/Verify.

Education

She studied French and Russian at Pembroke College, Oxford, where she wrote for the college newspaper, working in France and Russia in her year out, as a journalist for The Moscow Times, The Local and Le Tarn Libre.

Kit Klarenberg pointed out that "Her LinkedIn profile has been cached by the Internet Archive suspiciously few times since its creation, suggesting certain captures may have been scrubbed upon request."

Career

In December 2020 she was advising people on how to "talk to people about conspiracy theories without ruining Christmas".

Marianna In Conspiracyland

"In June 2023, the podcaster Carl Benjamin complained to the BBC and Ofcom that Spring was "actively promoting disinformation" about him in her Radio 4 series, "Marianna In Conspiracyland He posted on Twitter that she had "completely fabricated" several statements about him, including that his tactics included rape threats and that his YouTube channel was suspended. To disprove the second point, he gave a link to his YouTube Channel which was operating normally. He commented that he was shocked by the extreme nature of Spring's fabrications." In March 2023 she was the BBC’s Disinformation and Social Media Correspondent:

Introducing the new service on the BBC Breakfast morning show, “disinformation and social media correspondent” Marianna Spring gave a flavour of what was in store. The BBC’s own, all-too-visible failings appeared far from her thoughts.

She drew digital arrows on a screen, creating a sinister network of ties between “far-right figures” with “foreign links” on one side, and a “UK conspiracy movement” and “alternative media” on the other.

If anyone assumed BBC/Verify would be scrutinising the long track record of the BBC and the rest of the UK’s establishment media in misleading audiences, they look set to be sorely disappointed. Even Spring’s job title connects disinformation specifically to social media rather than to the so-called “legacy media” to which she belongs.

Criticism

In September 2023 The New European published a story which highlighted a past episode in which Spring had lied on her CV. The paper alleges that five years ago, Spring wanted to work as a Moscow correspondent for the US-based outlet Coda Story and noted on the CV:

"June 2018: Reported on International News during the World Cup, specifically the perception of Russia, with BBC correspondent Sarah Rainsford."

But that fell apart when Coda Story checked with Rainsford and found out the pair had only met a couple of times in social situations.

“Telling me you are a brilliant reporter who exercises integrity and honesty when you have literally demonstrated the opposite was a terrible idea,”
Natalia Antelava (2018) 
Declining Marianna Spring's request to join Coda Story after she discovered Spring had lied on her CV.

In August 2023, The Telegraph reported that 80% of abuse directed at BBC journalists had been targeted at Spring.

Awards

Spring was awarded the Ronnie Payne Prize for Outstanding Foreign Reporting in 2017 and included in Forbes 30 under 30 list in 2021.

 

A Document by Marianna Spring

Title	Document type	Publication date	Subject(s)	Description
Document:I get abuse and threats online - why can't it be stopped?	Article	18 October 2021	BBC "Disinformation" "Conspiracy theory" Troll Demos Center for Countering Digital Hate Big Tech Internet/Censorship Plymouth shooting Algorithm manipulation "Anti-vaxxer"	The Disinformation Specialist at the BBC gets criticism online for her "fact checking". Internet censorship is the answer.

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