“I’m supposedly faking every single aspect of my identity for some Instagram followers,” one target says. — At the height of summer last year, Sophie received an Instagram DM on her phone from an account she didn’t follow. “I’m going to make you disabled,” it read. With it came a photograph, one of her and her friends crossing the street. The photo suggested to Sophie — a…

Influencers have shot to fame by sharing experiences with addiction, but their success is fraught — Throughout most of his twenties, Jason Ortega only once used drugs — a “minor mushroom trip,” he says. But after his first edible, he was hooked. Soon, he was using work credit cards to buy supplies from his local dispensary in Colorado. …

There’s big business in crudely re-recorded karaoke versions of pop songs — As a teenager, Nya Crea would rush home from school and rehearse karaoke tracks every night. She found endless inspiration in Christina Aguilera, Aretha Franklin, Pink and “diva singers with powerful voices and charismatic personalities,” she says from her London home. …