Understanding the trolling phenomenon
Every social media platform offers the possibility to comment on any content. Such a feature is intrinsically linked to the notion of social media. Ask any user, the following statement holds for each of us : A significant part of the time we (social media users) spend on social media is dedicated to reading comments underneath posted content. Though it is hard to underpin this statement with figures, we know that we experience an irrepressible temptation to go through the comment section every time we deal with online content. Sometimes we spend even more time on the comment section than on the media content itself. But comment sections can be lawless places, especially when relating to controversial media content. Indeed, any social media user has witnessed hate speech and realized how violence can escalate rapidly in these comment sections.
Most of this speech violence is perpetrated by what we call trolls. trolls are the people who perform trolling. What is trolling exactly ?
The Online Cambridge Dictionary defines a troll as « someone who leaves an intentionally annoying message on the Internet, in order to get attention or cause trouble. ». Unlike basic hate speech, trolling does not intend to promote ideas or positions. The genuine goal is only to throw a bone of contention and trigger emotional, wound up and sometimes violent reactions, just for fun. According to a survey led by Statista in the United States in 2017, 88% of online users have witnessed trolling on the internet. 63% of the trolling behaviors were reported on Politics-related content, and 48% on Religion-related content. As mentioned before, polemical content are more likely to give rise to trolling behaviors. But which characteristics of the online environment foster the emergence of trolling behaviors and what are the motivations of trollers ?
The Internet offers us the ability to hide our true identity online. There is a feeling that online actions cannot be linked back to real life. Therefore, being online alters the feeling of responsibility for his words. John Suler, a researcher in psychology theorized this concept as the « Online Disinhibition Effect » : The loosening of social inhibitions because of the anonymity of the Internet. In the concepts developed by Suler as components of the Online Disinhibition Effect, there is a notion of dehumanization. Online, people have the feeling that they are not talking to real humans, just characters that are defined by a user name, sometimes a small picture and their messages. Hence, there is a feeling that the conversation is just a game and that anything can be said, without harm and consequences. This explains why the internet is an environment where trolls are likely to surface. But why some people actually become trolls ?
In her 2010, Claire Hardaker, a British linguist whose work focuses on hate and deceptive speech online, analyzed 186,470 social media posts and discovered three recurrent sentiment aspects strongly linked to trolling behavior : Aggression, deception and disruption. These three concepts are strongly linked to the definition of antisocial behavior. Indeed, as stated in a 2018 research paper published in US National Library of Medicine, trolling behavior online is an extension of antisocial behavior offline. Antisocial behavior is defined as a behavior that harm or lack consideration for the well-being of others. Therefore, trolling can be assimilated to the expression of a psychologic disorder well-diagnosed in the healthcare community.
Why do we really have to worry about trolling ? Stating that trolling is a bad thing is pretty obvious. But we have to understand why it is that bad. Trolling is a form of cyberbullying (bullying on the internet), even if the aim is not to harm someone in particular but more to inflame a discussion. The problem is that the consequences of trolling go far beyond its original purpose. Some people simply spot trolling and dismiss it, knowing that the ideas written down are not serious and that the only purpose of the post is to prompt reactions. But some people don’t get the (very bad) « joke » and react just as if the person behind the hateful message was conveying his true thoughts, and hence can feel harmed. And the problem is that there is way more trolls than real hate preachers. Furthermore, trolling can affect victims but can also arouse serious and evil cyberbullying. Here comes the real problem : How to make the difference between fake or true hate ? Sometimes, the trolling content is put in a way that suggests it is not serious. But most of the time, it just looks like raw hate speech. In this case, the difference only exists in the troller’s mind and from any other point of view, it is hate speech and will lead to the same consequences.
What can we do about trolling ? There is a golden rule : Don’t feed the troll ! The troll, by definition, feeds itself with reactions. The more reactions, the more satisfied the troll will be and the likelier he will reoffend elsewhere. Therefore, the best option is to dismiss and report. From the legislators’ point of view, trolling has to be treated just like any cyberbullying and the perpetrators should be punished as if they were true hate preachers. There should also be awareness-raising campaigns to either teach internet users how to react when they deal with trolls and deter trolls from acting so. Finally, social media platforms have their duty. Just like hate speech and online harassment, they have to build technological tools to efficiently spot trolling. YouTube released last year a feature allowing video posters to turn off comments on their videos. And now it is frequent to see deactivated comments in videos likely to raise polemical ideas.
In conclusion, we truly have to pay attention about the trolling phenomenon. Even if it is just a game in the troll’s mind, this practice can make genuine victims, just as hate speech and online harassment. Somewhat regrettable for a « game ».
