2016 was a wild time; we were streaming Beyoncé’s Lemonade, running rampant in the streets trying to catch them all on Pokémon GO! and mourning both Prince and Harambe – both gone too soon. There was no wilder story throughout the 16s, in my humble opinion, that rivalled the story of British YouTuber, Marina Joyce and the conspiracies that unfolded.
Much like our ever-concerning but endearing Britney Spears, Marina Joyce’s name made headlines around the world that detailed her strange and erratic on-camera behaviour.
Britney Spears has sparked concern over her internet behaviour too.
Fans had speculated that Marina’s behaviour in her YouTube videos was indicating signs of abuse, and was seen to have bruises on her arms in several videos. It was further speculated that she may have been kidnapped and was being forced to film video content against her will.
Things quickly escalated when in one of Marina Joyce’s videos, a shotgun was spotted in the background and whispered ‘help me’ to the camera.
Authorities went to Marina’s house as fans feared that she may have been kidnapped by ISIS. Enfield Police took to Twitter to assure frantic fans that she was ‘safe and well.’
Following this, Marina tweeted for fans to attend a meet-up in East London at 6:30am, and bring a friend. The event was hosted by Morning Gloryville, and the organisers spoke out, saying that they do not know Marina Joyce.
“We don’t know Marina, but we’re all sending out beams of love to her and her fans in what seems to be a confusing time! The internet can be a scary a place, something we’ve come face-to-face with in just the last couple of hours. Stay cool & calm.”
Other YouTubers at the time were discouraging fans from going to the meet-up as they believed it to be dangerous and potentially linked to an ISIS rally.
Marina jumped on a livestream to answer fan questions, but people weren’t letting up on the conspiracy theories. She addressed a few things, but was very vague. When asked about the bruises, she said ‘it’s a secret’ and when asked to turn the camera around to prove there wasn’t someone there, she refused.
The livestream also ended abruptly as more questions poured in.
The wild conspiracies don’t stop there – Marina Joyce went missing in August 2019 and this time, her then-boyfriend attempted to de-bunk the rumours. This only fuelled more conspiracy, calling him out for being suss.
The internet has been used to piece investigations together in the past, and most recently, a homicide investigation was aided by a TikTok where users discovered human remains on a randonauting expedition.
We mightn’t ever know what happened to Marina Joyce back in 2016, but we can only hope that she is okay now and recovers from being thrown into the spotlight.