14 Dec 2017 | 04:13am IST
Tackling the troll army
Web users are exposed to online trolling on a daily basis and the
phenomenon is soon becoming a serious form of harassment that can leave a
lasting impression. Café speaks to some online users, including a few noted
personalities, and finds out the best way to deal with online trolls
If you’ve ever been the victim of trolling—the common
internet slang for a person attempting to provoke an
emotional response from you by posting distressing,
threatening or hatred-filled messages—you’d know that
the phenomenon has become a common occurrence.
And while the world wide web is a lovely place at large,
over the years, trolls have infested the space that’s
otherwise seen as a platform to express free opinion
and engage in a logical debate held in a civilised fashion.
Having presence on social media sans attracting hatred,
violence-inciting comments and threats from fellow web
users is a setting far from reality.
Trolls have indeed begun affecting
the public discourse, and to address
the issue, acclaimed historian and
biographer Ramachandra Guha was
recently in Goa to speak at the Goa
Art and Literature Festival held at the
International Centre Goa, Dona Paula,
along with noted journalist Samar
Halarnkar. Halarnkar started off the
interactive session by throwing in some
statistics. India has around 30 million
Twitter users that are growing at the
rate of five times the global average.
This combined with around 100 million
Facebook users, makes the online
community strong enough to have an
outsized influence on public discourse.
Message boards of online news
portals can be truly fascinating, for this is where most
trolls using fake profiles are found thriving. These are
usually politically-charged individuals who can struggle
to string a logical sentence together. They rarely bother
unleash their full hatred
dissent to their beliefs or
plan to address trolls and online abusers. Clarifying their
stand on this, Twitter India’s Country Director Taranjeet
Singh, while speaking to journalists recently, said, “For us,
user safety is of utmost importance. It’s probably one of
our key priorities now and going into 2018.
If you are not seen following the guidelines,
appropriate action will be taken. We are also
helping people understand how they can
report abusive language or trolls or things
While discussing the topic, Guha and
Halarnkar also touched upon the fact that
while all online harassment is deplorable,
it gets worse if you’re a woman who has
the courage to voice an unpopular opinion
about matters that concern her. When
contacted post session, Ankita Bhaje, an
audience member, said, “The web is filled
with abusive trolls who spew venomous
comments against women. The comments
usually allow a peek into the minds of such
people who visualise violence and nurture
deep-rooted misogyny. Abuse has come
to be seen as normal and anyone who
complains against them are
told to keep off the internet
and not whine about online
the venom spewed by trolls
could also qualify as their
turn amount to restricting
that freedom. But Halarnkar
clarifies, “Although, it is very
hard to differentiate between
the two, everyone has the
right to propagate what they
wish to as long as they are
not aggregating violence.”
with trolls? Guha says, “I
don’t look at my timeline. I
ignore them and sometimes make fun of them.” Halarnkar
adds, “Nothing affects a troll more than being ignored.
You have to be thick-skinned. Use humour with them.
What also infuriates them other than being ignored is
being made fun of. Most trolls don’t have a sense of
Experts believe that trolls are most likely spineless
entities who need the anonymity of the internet to hide
behind so they can spew their hateful rhetoric without the
worry of being found out. Swarali Pednekar, a professional
psychologist from Ponda, says, “As daunting as they might
seem online, most of them are actually cowards. But even
while that is true, some of them have the potential to turn
dangerous and pose a threat to your safety. If someone
makes the alarm bells go off in your head, do not ignore
your gut and take steps to ensure your safety.”
So, what’s the best solution for tackling the trolls?
