Following last week’s article on Youtube’s number one content creator, PewDiePie, a key point that appeared to stand out to readers was his decision, in 2014, to disable the comments section of his channel. Here was a entertainer whose success came off the back of fan interaction – the kind of thing rarely possible before the days of the internet – closing down the frontline of communication with his ‘bros’. What possible reason could he have?
The answer is a term that many have heard, but few who are not active online truly understand: Trolling.
WHO ARE THEY?
At best, an internet troll is a simple joker, writing messages with the intention of causing readers to react. They may do so to prove a point, or simply to provoke members of the community in which they have posted.
At worst, they are bullies amplified by their anonymity, their physical disconnection from the tormented fuelling their apathy.
This dichotomy has been recognised by both major media outlets and internet users, and yet nothing has been done to isolate these definitions. The result, essentially, allows the more sinister trolling to go unhindered until the damage has been done.
Psychological studies of trolls have revealed that they display signs of the personality traits known as the ‘Dark Tetrad’: narcissism, machiavellianism (duplicity), sadism, and psychopathy. They often target those in positions of power, recognising that they will never achieve similar success (even though they are generally intelligent), and those suffering loss, considering them easy targets. These traits are identical to those found in traditional bullying, and are often suggestive of pre-existing deeper issues.
While it is often presumed that trolls have both online and offline personas, cases where people have been taken to court over their online comments reveal this is often not true. The internet simply provides a platform for these people to share their malicious thoughts.
DON’T FEED THE TROLLS!
The standard warning to internet ‘newbies’ is to ignore trolling. Rarely does this prove successful, and in the case of communities like the PewDiePie ‘bros’, there are simply too many passionate people keen on defending their idol to keep them silent.
PewDiePie’s case was an interesting one. Two months after he made the decision, he told Business Insider“…making that change, I feel like we’ve been going back up. It’s been making me really happy, and it’s been making me really enjoy what I do. Which is really important to me”.
While the decision did not stop fans from contacting him entirely – they could still send messages through his website – the result was a heavy reduction in negative content. The trolls simply had more viable targets now that they knew their comments were being moderated before appearing to the public.
PewDiePie eventually enabled comments once again, but not before many of his fellow Youtubers followed suit. While not as popular, creators who tended to produce more controversial videos echoed PewDiePie’s sentiment: even if they didn’t notice it before, trolling comments had been impacting on their happiness.
It wasn’t just happening on Youtube either. Many news websites disabled comments on their bigger stories to ensure they didn’t become food for the trolls. Even sites like The Verge, a community founded on casual discussion, shut down comments after they found them to be “too intense”.
While the decision to avoid the hate by limiting channels for user feedback was proving successful for some, it was those who either wouldn’t think about limiting their means of communication, or those who had no choice but to keep these channels open, that suffered most from trolling.
KILL YOURSELF
In 2007, three year old Madeline McCaan was abducted from a hotel room in Portugal, resulting in one of the most publicised missing-person cases in history.
As the investigation into her disappearance continued, people on social media began to raise questions about the case, as well as Madeline’s parents. One of these people was Brenda Leyland who, under the name @Sweepyface on Twitter, posted 4600 messages over four years in which she called out the family and their supporters over the money they had made in the wake of the abduction through book deals, interviews, and lawsuits against tabloid media.
Leyland was argumentative, often offensive, and sarcastic, yet would often remind those who shared her views, but that she thought stepped over the line, about the seriousness of the case. While she had troll-like tendencies and was clearly obsessed with the case, the fact that the McCaans did not use social media meant her posts weren’t directed at those who they would have specifically offended.
In September 2014, Leyland was confronted outside her home by Sky News reporter Martin Brunt regarding the tweets. She did not deny that she was responsible for the posts, but invited Brunt into her home, where she asked him not to air the segment. He continued with the piece, unaware that Leyland suffered from severe depression.
Sky News showed the story. The Daily Mail revealed her name. Brenda Leyland was inundated with death threats. While her Twitter account had been deleted, a search of her username revealed vicious messages, including:
“Hoping you get beaten so bad you beg for mercy, only to have gasoline thrown on you and set ablaze.”
“Death is waiting and watching for u @sweepyface..Do you feel it????”
“Sweepyface, we’re coming for you. Do you feel us?? The decent kind folk who pray for this family and their sad loss.You go to hell bitch.”
Two days after the story aired, Brenda Leyland killed herself.
HOW DO WE STOP THEM?
A search of the term trolling reveals a common theme: suicide.
The suicide of a mentally disabled teenager trolled because of the sound of his voice.
The suicide of a girl bombarded by anonymous messages asking her to kill herself.
We hear stories of how Robin Williams’s daughter was forced to disconnect after trolls abused her following the actor’s death, or how GamerGate trolls have set the gaming industry back years over its targeting of female developers. But then there are others:
24 Pics that Prove ‘Ken M’ is the Greatest Troll on the Internet.
10 Great Troll Moments in Internet History.
7 Most Awesome Internet Trolls of All Time.
It’s shocking to see how quickly the term is applied to the best and worst of human interaction on the internet, and how little is being done to curve it. Industry heads like former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao and New York Times writer Farhad Manjoo have declared it: the trolls are winning.
So what can be done? We can’t keep turning our head and pretending trolls don’t exist. Even if we don’t acknowledge them online, they know their words have impact. Unhindered, they will continue.
Perhaps a start would be to differentiate between those who troll by the original definition, and those who are out to hurt. We need a new word that doesn’t connect those who are making harmless jokes, like Ken M above, from those who call for teenage girls to hang themselves. Not doing so feeds their validation.
Another option must come from content hosts themselves. If websites like Youtube were willing to trial user-moderation, it could provide a buffer between trolls and those who they seek to offend. Being able to mark comments, posts, or tweets as offensive and having a system that removes them automatically (or, where relevant, until official moderators approve the content) would allow communities to flourish without the need for additional resources. Some may claim this inhibits freedom of expression, but it is a small price to pay for those who have positive thoughts to share.
Further to this is government intervention in the form of penalties. Rather than demanding empty apologies, take away a troll’s rights to internet access, as we do with those who speed in their cars. It may seem extreme, but a troll is nothing without their internet connection.
My final thought is that we must be willing to call the people that we know out when they troll. It seems simple enough, but it requires the most courage. Rather than ignoring them, we must stand in defiance, and remind those who seek to offend that no good can come out of ignorance and abuse.
If we don’t, the trolls will win. More people will die, and the divide between content creator and their audience will widen to the point it was at before the internet brought us all together.