Sam Bankman-Fried’s Digital Footprint Jumps Amid Trial, But Fails to Surpass FTX Collapse Peak

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According to Google Trends statistics, Sam Bankman-Fried’s search popularity surged just before his trial, maintaining an upward trend. Yet, it hasn’t matched the peak seen during FTX’s November 2022 collapse and his arrest that followed the next month.

Trials and Trends: Web Search Patterns Chronicle Bankman-Fried’s Ongoing Scandal

Since October 3, 2023, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) has been entangled in a trial. By last month’s end, his digital footprint had grown. Google Trends data reveals that between October 8-14, 2023, “Sam Bankman-Fried” had a popularity score of 31 out of 100. In the preceding week, it registered 20 globally.

Google Trends’ scoring system, ranging from 1-100, gauges a search term’s popularity relative to all others. While the FTX chief’s name lay dormant for most of this year, it did briefly spike to 10 from August 13-19, 2023. The SBF peak came during the FTX crash week: November 13-19, 2022, when “Sam Bankman-Fried” rocketed to a perfect score of 100.

In the week of December 11-17, 2022, his name soared to 81. Notably, on December 12, last year, U.S. authorities arrested Bankman-Fried in the Bahamas following criminal charges. Post-collapse and pre-arrest, his search score dipped to 19. Currently, as of October 2023, the Bahamas leads the global searches for “Sam Bankman-Fried,” with the U.S., Singapore, Canada, and Australia trailing.

Search trends associated with SBF also highlight “Bernie Madoff,” “FTX collapse,” “Criminal Charge,” “Scandal,” and “Extradition.” Intriguingly, “Caroline Ellison,” the former Alameda Research CEO who testified against Bankman-Fried last week, is also gaining traction. Her name peaked at 10 from October 1-7, 2023. During the FTX upheaval, Ellison’s popularity reached 51 on November 13-19, 2022, and 50 on December 18-24, 2022.

For October 8-14, 2023, “Gary Wang” clocked a 28 on Google Trends. The FTX co-founder Wang, too, witnessed a significant uptick during the FTX tumult, scoring a perfect 100 on December 18-24, 2022, and a 46 during the week of the collapse.

Before the FTX debacle, Bankman-Fried was almost unnoticed in digital searches. He first made a minor mark with a score of 1 from April 4-10, 2021, improving slightly to 5 in April 2022. His digital presence then plummeted, only to shoot from a 1 to 100 between October 30 and November 19, 2022.

What do you think about the search trends associated with Sam Bankman-Fried and the FTX collapse? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.