The Facebook party that became a riot
How did a quiet 16th birthday celebration turn into a riot? This article is based on an event that happened over a decade ago.

I. Match the sentence halves to make things that can go wrong at a party. Write a–f next to the numbers 1–6.
1.Someone breaks-e. an expensive glass
2.Loads of people you don't know-a. gatecrash the party
3.Someone spills-d. their drink on the carpet
4.The neighbours complain-f. about the noise
5.Your mates post-c. embarrassing photos from the party on Facebook              
6.Someone falls asleep-b. in your parents' bed         

Read the text and do the other exercises.

The Facebook party that became a riot
It began as a plan for a very normal 16th birthday party. Merthe Weusthuis wanted a quiet celebration with a small group of friends in her family home in the small Dutch town of Haren. Like many teenagers, she decided to send out invitations via a social network site. But Merthe made one big mistake: she used open-access settings on Facebook, so it wasn’t just her friends who could see details of the event, lots of strangers could too.

The number of invitation acceptances quickly snowballed into an avalanche. Not marking the event as ‘private’ meant the electronic invitation was eventually seen by 240,000 people, of whom 30,000 confirmed online that they planned to attend. To make matters worse, an unauthorised campaign was launched to promote the party by means of a dedicated website and Twitter account, which received hundreds of thousands of hits. The party become known as ‘Project X Haren’ after the 2012 American film Project X in which three high school students throw a birthday party that spins out of control. Video trailers for Merthe’s party were produced, with scenes from Project X edited in, and they were posted on YouTube. T-shirts featuring Merthe’s face were also made, all without her knowledge or consent.

Even after Merthe’s parents had cancelled the party, the publicity didn’t stop. Local media reported on the forthcoming event and teenagers turned up to have their pictures taken outside the Weusthuis family home. On the evening the party was to have taken place, about 5,000 teenagers began gathering in Haren, many outside the Weusthuis house. When it became clear that there was nothing to gatecrash, violence broke out and 500 riot police equipped with helmets, shields and batons were brought in to control the crowd. Shops in the centre of Haren were vandalised and looted, journalists were attacked, cars were set on fire or overturned and street signs and lamp posts were damaged.

However, Facebook was also involved in the clean-up effort in the days after the riot. A group called ‘Project Clean-X Haren’ was set up to gather and organise volunteers. Another group named ‘Suspect-X Haren’ was created to help police identify and arrest the rioters by sharing photos and videos of the event.

A number of other 'Facebook parties’ have spiralled out of control, including the 16th birthday party of British teenager Bradley McAnulty in April 2012. Bradley had not posted details of the event on the internet, and had been careful to ask his friends not to, but somehow the news leaked out and appeared on Blackberry Messenger as well as Facebook. More than 400 gatecrashers invaded his family home in Poole, Dorset, causing extensive damage.

II. Check your understanding: multiple choice 
1. Merthe Weusthuis made the mistake of ___.
a. using Facebook to organise her birthday celebration
b. letting her friends invite their friends to her party
c. inviting people she did not really like to her party
d. not checking who could see her online invitation

2. The number of confirmed guests ___.
a. did not reflect the reality
b. got out of control almost immediately
c. was manageable until the Twitter campaign
d. suddenly shot up when people started watching the YouTube video trailers

3. 'Project X Haren' was named after ___.
a. another party in the same area
b. the group who promoted the party online
c. a party video on YouTube
d. a film

4. Local journalists ___.
a. gave the event publicity
b. tried to discourage people from attending
c. gathered outside the house
d. started the violence

5. Violence broke out when ___.
a. teenagers arrived in large numbers
b. people realised there was no party
c. rival gangs turned up
d. gatecrashers saw the riot police

6. After the riot, Facebook was used to ___.
a. plan another party in Haren
b. send messages of support to Merthe and her family
c. help rioters get in contact with each other
d. help the town recover from the violence

7. Bradley McAnulty ___.
a. made the same mistake as Merthe Weusthuis
b. sent invites via Blackberry Messenger
c. had taken steps to prevent problems
d. posted details of the event online

8. In Bradley McAnulty's case, ___.
a. only a small number of people arrived
b. the gatecrashers were well behaved
c. the gatecrashers caused a lot of damage to his home
d. the gatecrashers caused a lot of damage to his town

III. Check your vocabulary: gap fill
Complete the gaps with a phrase from the box.
take place broke out set on fire turned up
send out leaked out named after brought in
1. Merthe used her Facebook page to send out invitations.
2. The event was named after a party in a film.
3. Teenagers turned up at the house to have their photos taken.
4. 5,000 teenagers gathered in Haren on the night the party was supposed to set on fire.
5. When it became clear there was no party, violence take place.
6. Riot police were brought in to control the crowds.
7. Shops were vandalised and cars were broke out.
8. Even though Bradley McAnulty had been careful, news of his party leaked out and
appeared on Blackberry Messenger.

IV. Discussion
Is Facebook a good way to organise a party? Why or why not?
Are you careful with your privacy settings on social network sites?