Trolls and the future of Twitter

Twitter has once again announced it intends to tackle the problem of bullying and trolling on its network: it’s been more than a year since it last promised to deal with the issue, and nothing has changed.

Now starting its second decade, Twitter faces declining growth, one of the reasons for which is that fewer people are using it to share information, while at the same time, mob rule seems to be the order of the day, rather than smart mob rule. We’ve heard of any number of cases of people leaving Twitter after putting their head above the parapet only to find themselves subjected to vicious sniping from trolls and the like using pseudonyms.

The problem here isn’t anonymity. Twitter accounts aren’t anonymous, they are pseudonyms. The company has, on occasion, identified individuals responsible for offensive tweets, which are kept in a log. What Twitter needs to do is to take more decisive action against such individuals, on a sustained basis, making it clear that they are not welcome.

I have been subjected to trolling on Twitter several times, and I even, in 2007, discussed the issue briefly with one of the company’s founders, Biz Stone, who recommended I report a specific account that was to all intents and purposes stalking me. The outcome was that I was left more exposed to bullying than before: after a brief email exchange (a copy of which I kept) with somebody at Twitter, whose only response was to tell me that the bullying I was being subjected to wasn’t such a “big deal”. I subsequently wrote that trolling would become a major problem for the company in retaining and attracting new users. It’s taken almost a decade for Twitter to get the message.

Studies have shown that if bullying isn’t tackled head on, immediately, the bully (who will always deny being a bully) feels free to ramp up his or her behavior, while the victims are likely to end up believing that they are the cause of the problem.

Twitter’s mistake has been to try to establish its own criteria about what constitutes bullying — often based on a mistaken interpretation of free speech — rather than simply listening to people who feel they are being bullied, a policy that has simply given the bullies greater license to pursue their offensive behavior, and making the victims feel as though Twitter was on the side of the bullies. We don’t need objective metrics to establish what is or isn’t bullying. Anybody knows it when they see it or experience it.

The idea that somebody has to put up with insults, sarcasm, or ridicule simply because they have a Twitter account is indefensible. Freedom of expression isn’t the freedom to insult other people. For too long now, Twitter has simply become a digital version of the stocks, the place where we go to laugh at some unfortunate miscreant live out their final moments… before closing their account.

There are plenty of ways to maintain a relatively healthy climate on Twitter, the aim of which should be to make people who insult others pay. Perhaps a way could be found to create a parallel Twitter where those who indulge in bad behavior are sent, or to develop a points system whereby you are expelled if enough people complain about your activities; and in extreme cases, immediate expulsion, accompanied by measures to make it impossible to re-register. Twitter could also simply employ more people to monitor what goes on, and that would be able to politely remind offenders that their behavior will not be tolerated. My experience is that the company doesn’t have enough people dedicated to dealing with complaints of bullying, and those it does give the impression they are on the side of the bullies. We all know that trolls are everywhere, but they seem to have found their home on Twitter.

If Twitter really wants to reach out to a wider audience and avoid becoming a haven for self-styled vigilantes, bullies, and the politically correct, then it is going to have to take the side of those of us who want to be able to express our thoughts, share information and discuss issues in a reasonable manner. The company needs to understand that one of the key factors limiting its growth is that people are wary of using it for fear that if they say something that somebody else might not agree with they will suddenly find themselves in the middle of a very unpleasant storm. Tackling this problem is not going to be easy, but something has to be done.

Let’s be clear about this: one thing is feeling passionate about an issue, and another is insulting or ridiculing those who don’t share our views. This isn’t about political correctness either; nobody wants to turn Twitter into Disneyland: this is about decent behavior. Surely the owners of Twitter take no pleasure from providing a platform for bullies and trolls, cheered on by the mob.

So far, despite its stated good intentions, has been unable or unwilling to take a clear stand on this issue. Perhaps it is finally waking up to the problem, a problem that it now sees is limiting its growth, and in the long term, its survival.

(En español, aquí)