The Shocking True Story of The Most Hated Man on the Internet

On January 10, 2012, then 24-year-old aspiring actress Kayla Laws was working her waitressing job when a friend phoned her to let her know that there was a topless photo of her online, accompanied by her name, city of residence and social media information. Private photos that she’d taken of herself the previous October were now on the website IsAnyoneUp.com, where sexually explicit content and private information were regularly posted without consent. Her email had been hacked. Kayla’s mother, Charlotte, a former journalist and private investigator, immediately began trying to get the picture removed. She contacted the site’s owner Hunter Moore, asking him to do so, but he refused. And he was protected by the Communications Decency Act, which states that providers are not responsible for user uploaded content. When Charlotte went to the LAPD for help, the detective didn’t take the situation seriously. She then contacted the FBI, who, at first, had a similar though more sympathetic response. However, once she referenced the case of actress Scarlett Johansson, they put her in touch with a detective.

Charlotte Laws embarked on her own investigation, collecting information on California-based Hunter Moore, the self-proclaimed “professional life ruiner.” By Moore’s own admission, the purpose of IsAnyoneUp, which he established in 2010, was public humiliation. Some of his other victims weren’t even aware of their photos being online, making Charlotte the one to deliver the devastating news as she did her digging. These women were often in danger of losing their jobs, relationships, and overall safety. And the photos didn’t just come from disgruntled ex-boyfriends, as is often the case with such crimes. During her investigation, Charlotte discovered that 40% of the photos on the site were obtained through hacking Facebook and email accounts. And 12% had their faces photoshopped or altered onto another woman’s nude body. One woman even saw medical photos of her breasts uploaded to the site, likely obtained through hacking into her doctor’s office. The hacker was Gary Jones — real name Charles Evens — who was also from California and had mutual Facebook friends with Kayla Laws. He reportedly worked for Moore from October 2011 until March 2012, during which time he hacked into the accounts of numerous people, including Kayla. By the time FBI agents came to the Laws' residence, Charlotte had a thick file ready to hand over.

Digital activist and former Marine James McGibney reached out to Hunter Moore and established a rapport of sorts. Then, he offered to purchase Moore’s site. By April 2012, IsAnyoneUp was no more, and those who went to the link were rerouted to McGibney’s anti-bullying site. Needless to say, Moore’s following was shocked. Moore subsequently took to Twitter and made obscene and disturbing comments about McGibney’s wife, and accused him of engaging in inappropriate acts with minors. McGibney quickly filed a lawsuit against Moore for defamation, and in March 2013, the latter man was ordered to pay up. Anonymous & Operation Hunt Hunter In April 2012, Laws and Moore were both guests on Dr. Drew’s show, where they had a heated exchange. Now that his followers knew who she was, Charlotte received death threats, and had a stalker outside of her house. Her computer was also attacked with several viruses. The hacktivist collective known as Anonymous reached out to her, offering help and protection. Meanwhile, before IsAnyoneUp was shut down, Anonymous had also contacted James McGibney, expressing interest in working together to take Moore down, which they ended up doing. After Moore made threats to McGibney’s family and claimed he’d be creating new sites, the underground group went after him again. In early December 2012, Anonymous launched their campaign “Operation Hunt Hunter” (or #OpHuntHunter). Moore didn’t seem to take the threat seriously. But the group followed through on doxxing him, posting his detailed personal information online. They also hacked into his servers and accessed his credit card number.

The FBI arrested Hunter Moore and Charles “Gary Jones” Evens on January 23, 2014. The two were charged with 15 counts of “conspiracy, unauthorized access to a protected computer, and aggravated identity theft.” Days later, Moore got out on a $100,000 bond. The then 27-year-old was ordered to stay with his parents and remain off the internet. His mom and dad were also required to install parental controls. In February, 2015, Moore pled guilty, facing between two to seven years in jail, plus a half a million dollar fine. In July of that year, Charles Evens pled guilty to identity theft and computer hacking, admitting that was responsible for selling photos obtained without consent to Moore. In November 2015, Evens received a 25 month federal prison sentence. And in December, Moore was sentenced to two years and six months in prison, plus three years probation, and a $2,000 fine. He began serving his sentence in January 2016. Moore was released in 2017.

“The Most Hated Man on the Internet”

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The Shocking True Story of Netflix's The Watcher

Since bringing Hunter Moore to justice, Charlotte Laws has continued her work with victims of such crimes and lobbying for laws to protect them. In July 2022, Netflix released a documentary series, “The Most Hated Man on the Internet,” a title Moore received from the BBC and Rolling Stone. Charlotte and Kayla Laws appear, as well as James McGibney. Though it does put the criminal back in the media, the docuseries focuses on the voices of those who’ve long gone unheard — the victims.