'Lives are ruined in an afternoon': How social media shaped the Huw Edwards story

Social media imploded and the BBC practically ate itself last week as the scandal over Huw Edwards allegedly paying for explicit images from an unnamed young person unspooled. But what you knew, and when, depended largely on where you looked. Consume only traditional media – television, radio and newspapers and news websites like the Guardian – and you would not have had much inkling of who was in the frame until Edwards's wife named the BBC News presenter as the one at the centre of the storm. Sniff around social media, however, and you likely knew who was involved days before – and probably also thought a lot less of other names bandied about in connection with the concern. One former member of Twitter's curation team, who asked not to be named, believes the failure on Twitter's part was down to a combination of short-staffing and tech changes since Elon Musk took over.