6.6: Trolling

As mentioned in 6.4, online anonymity has allowed for people to engage in disturbing and repugnant behavior. Because we can’t confirm the identify the users on most platforms, we can’t hold them accountable for the things they say. The lack of accountability has allowed for trolling to become common place. Internet trolling occurs when users attempt to upset users rather than engage in an honest exchange of ideas. Trolling can take many forms. It can be as simple as sending insulting or harassing messages to a user, but it can also take relatively sophisticated forms that look to exploit how we reason in an attempt to disrupt open discussion and harm others. The following are some forms of trolling you should be on the lookout for:

Gaslighting is a form of manipulation where the goal is to make the other person question their basic experiences and memories. This can be accomplished through a variety of methods. Most commonly you can see it in the form of gaslighters outright denying that they or others said or did things (even when there is written or video evidence to the contrary). Confronted with the evidence, they will claim that it is fake or taken out of context. It is also common for people engaging in this behavior to intentionally contradict themselves by expressing support “conceptually” for the views they are actively criticizing or working against. You can see this aspect of gaslighting when misogynists talk about their love and respect for women , or when racists talk about all the people of color they are friends with. The final component of gaslighting is aggressive accusation. It is important to the strategy to put the other person on the defensive. As a result, gaslighters will accuse the other person of lying , engaging in bad faith arguments , and even the very behavior of which the gaslighter was initially accused. This may seem like it is merely irritating, but over time it has the effect of making honest , self-reflective people feel helpless to understand their own experiences , and it is a crucial component of virtually all abusive relationships.

Sealioning occurs when a user poses as if they are acting in good faith (trying to have a legitimate conversation), but instead they are trying to tie up the other user’s time. When people request evidence, ask questions or attempt to get the initial user to respond to hypotheticals (sometimes referred to as ‘whataboutism’) it is often a sign that they are sealioning. This type of behavior can be incredibly frustrating, because all the things they are doing could be done in good faith. Users are being put in a position where they can invest time and energy engaging in the hopes of helping a person come to a better understanding, but if they are being sealioned, they are just wasting time. Over time, people who are victims of this type of harassment tend to stop interacting with people, and that is bad for anyone who thinks an open discourse is good.

Tone policing happens when a troll attacks a person for how they say something rather than what they say. When it is successful, a conversation can be hijacked from a real discussion about an issue and turned into a conversation about decorum. Tone policing is most often directed at women and people of color because it tends to leverage implicit biases about how groups of people are “supposed to act”. We’ll look at implicit biases more in Chapter 25.

Shitposting uses sarcasm, irony or absurdity in an attempt to get a reaction out of the person with whom you are interacting. It is often said that the goal of shitposting is to cause the biggest possible reaction with the least amount of effort. This behavior, when it is most successful, forces victims to respond to absurd accusations. Jo Swinson, a British politician, was accused of killing squirrels for fun so often online that she was asked about it in multiple interviews. In their most pernicious form, shitposts can even turn into conspiracy theories. Shitposts claiming that Hilary Clinton was a pedophile were circulated so widely many people began to believe them, and a man even attacked a pizza place named in the conspiracy while “investigating” the accusations. It is also important to note that much of the trolling on the internet is organized. Twitter in particular allows for the creation of lists that group users. These lists can then be followed by users. This can be helpful if you are interested in engaging with a topic that is new to you. The problem is, white supremacists, men’s rights advocates, anti-trans bigots, and all sorts of other malicious actors use these lists to direct others toward people to harass. Over the next several chapters, we will learn about how we think and process new information. These lessons will shed some light on why we should be concerned about trolling, and why it is so effective.