Louis Theroux is to return to BBC Two and BBC iPlayer with a new three-part series, Louis Theroux: Forbidden America (w/t) exploring the impact of the internet and social media on some of the most controversial corners of American entertainment

Travelling the length and breadth of the United States, Louis Theroux will meet an assortment of content creators who promote far-right views, self-destructive performers — and in some cases alleged predators — whose work involves them promoting and enacting the most risqué, immoral and illegal behaviour.

Theroux gives this overview of the series:

“The world has gone through massive changes in the last few years, in particular from the effects of social media. This new series looks at the way those changes have affected people in America who are in different ways involved in dangerous, extreme, or morally questionable lifestyles. Far-right groups that have found new influence through gaming and streaming services.

Porn performers who have seen power shift to them as they’ve embraced creator-controlled apps and called out alleged predators in the industry. And in the rap world young men with big dreams caught up in feuds and high-risk behaviour in the click-driven world of social media.

“These three documentaries were tough to make. They required delicate access conversations. They feature scenes and confrontations that are shocking and upsetting. But they are also powerful depictions of a world that has become strange in ways we could never have imagined just 10 years ago. They show the dangers of the technotopia we all now inhabit, where extremist content can be piped directly into the phones and laptops of millions of children.

But they also illustrate some of the positive opportunities the new world has created by disrupting old hierarchies of power.

You can read more about Forbidden America in the BBC announcement.