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

Published on:

13 Dec 2017, 10:43 pm

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

to read an article from

beginning to end, but

browse superficially

through an article and

unleash their full hatred

on targets who express

dissent to their beliefs or

political leanings.

In the wake of

the alarming issue of

online trolling, a large

number of Twitter

users alleged that the

platform can take action

against online abuse,

but doesn’t. But Twitter

seems to finally have a

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

that are inappropriate.”

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

realities.”

One could debate that

the venom spewed by trolls

could also qualify as their

freedom of speech and

banning them would in

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.”

So, how does one deal

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

humour.”

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?

Don’t feed the trolls.