A&E Pulls Back The Curtain On The Internet’s Darkest Corners With ‘Bully Hunter’

A&E is shining some light on the dark side of the internet with the premiere of “Bully Hunter,” airing Tuesday, September 23 at 10pm ET/PT. 

This gripping new special dives headfirst into the world of cyberbullying and revenge porn.

Leading the charge is Dr. James McGibney, the relentless investigator who rose to prominence after taking down revenge porn king Hunter Moore. Now he’s returning with powerful tactics to expose bullies, confront predators, and help empower victims to reclaim control of their lives.

McGibney had some time to chat with The Blast to share some insight into “Bully Hunter,” how he helps victims, and tips for parents to help make sure their kids aren’t putting themselves in bad situations online. 

While many realize that cyberbullying is a real problem for way too many people, the depths of this issue aren’t fully known to most. 

One person, Dr. James McGibney, knows the ins and outs of this scary internet problem, and has made it his mission to help those who find themselves in the terrible position of having photos or information leaked. 

The special, which premieres on Tuesday night, takes a look at how McGibney goes about helping victims of cyberbullying and revenge porn. 

McGibney, a former U.S. Marine, founder of SecuraTrak, and founder and CEO of Bullyville.com, is best known for dismantling some of the world’s largest revenge porn sites. He holds a doctorate in Learning Technology from Pepperdine University, a master’s in criminal justice from Boston University, and executive education and cybersecurity credentials from Harvard. 

McGibney shared some of his background and how he got into the business of finding and stopping internet bullies with The Blast ahead of tonight’s A&E premiere. 

“I would say it really began probably about 12 or 13 years ago with the first revenge porn site I went after, which was isanyoneup.com. It was a site where scorned ex-lovers would upload naked unauthorized images of their exes onto this website and was getting millions of views a day,” he told The Blast exclusively. 

“Unfortunately, women were committing suicide because they would not take the photos down. So that is where I really homed in on this. I’m a nerd and I know how to take down sites like this. I know how to make stuff go away, including the images, so why not I just use my nerdiness for good, and that’s basically where it first started.” 

The special focuses on a teacher who had images released on the internet many years ago. She tried to get them taken down but had no luck. While she moved on with her life and tried to forget about it, the internet forgets nothing.

"These images were from back in 2007, 2009 time frame. She couldn't get them taken down, and she moves on with her life and thinks, you know what, this is my past," McGibney said. "An email came to her school with a link to the images. And almost 20 years later, it was still haunting her. Unfortunately, what lives on the internet sometimes never goes away."

When McGibney first heard Rebecca's story, it only took him about 20 seconds to know that he was going to do whatever it took to help her out. Not having the photographer's name who took the photos, he knew he had his job cut out for him.

"People leave a digital footprint, no matter how old you are, somewhere along the line, you made just one mistake," McGibney shared.

As his search went on, more women were found that also had photos leaked from the same photographer.

McGibney said while he hopes everyone watches "Bully Hunter," he especially hopes that parents tune in.

"The reason why I keep plugging that is because I hope parents watch it, and I hope that they then turn and have their kids watch it and say, look, here is what could happen if something like this occurs, if your image gets out there, you shouldn't be taking in the first place but if you do, here's what could happen. It could follow you for the rest of your life," he said.

"Just imagine that schoolteacher when she moves on with her life and the guy's not taking the photos down, come 2010 she's like forget it. She gets her teaching credentials, she gets married, she has a child, she moves on with her life and she said the biggest fear she had was when a parent would google her to see her credentials and the first, they're not seeing her credentials, they're seeing thousands of naked images all over the web. That's the first impression a parent has of her because of that mistake that was made decades earlier."

McGibney went on to say he feels the internet can be a "horrible place" so it's important to stay on top of the internet traffic in your own home when it comes to your kids.

"The best piece of advice I can give any parent is you control your house. You control that castle. You want to make sure you know all the traffic in the house," he said. "To do that, all you have to do on your home network is go to 192.168.1.1 and that'll get you right into your router. From there, you'll know all the traffic coming in and out. You'll know all the sites they're going on and see the nonstop communication that's occurring with someone that is potentially catfishing them."

"Bully Hunter" premieres on A&E tonight, Tuesday, Sept. 23 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.