Week 11 : Digital Communities and Trolls - understanding social media conflict
When I was a little girl and I would hear the word ‘troll’ I would think of those little toys with the coloured hair or a creature that lives under a bridge, this is no longer the case.
Growing up in the digital age has meant that social media has had an immense impact on how I network and communicate. Social media is a “teen-oriented social world that unfolds through networked publics” (Boyd 2014, p.98) and has become an essential part of their lives. This need people feel for social networks makes things too easy for trolls. Trolling is when an individual attack another verbally with the intention of offending online. Trolling can have serious effects on the mental and physical state of a victim.
Suzanna Fernandes has been a target of trolling and has received racial abuse, pornography and even death threats that have left her seeling defeated and afraid. Fernandes made 126 reports to the police with information on the two suspected trollers, and also making frequent reports to the social media platforms Facebook and Twitter. The thought of going through something like this is unimaginable and horrifying to me. Fernandes was receiving multiple messages per day claiming she had only 10 days to live and then was sent pornography of herself from her attacker’s accounts. This all started when she stood up for a victim of racial trolling in a public group. This was the reason Fernandes was scared for her life as she received constant death threats. Due to the publicity of the platform and her profile the perpetrators were able to find Fernandes’s son on Facebook and even resorted to sending him vulgar messages. The intended purpose of social media platforms seems to have been lost as they were originally created to connect communities; however, they have become a toxic environment where people feel unsafe to share their opinions without repercussions from trolls. Social media platforms have created an environment where bullying is accepted and the psychological issues stemmed from the trolls seems not to matter. The abuse seen online is unlikely to subside as the “as the internet is borderless” (Laville 2016) and trolls have the ability to hide in anonymity. The internet is mostly a positive and enjoyable place, there will always be a way for trolls to be heard and have their say. It is important for us in the community to do our part and stand up for others and be respectful of others views.
References:
Boyd, D 2014, Its Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens, Yale University Press, Newhaven and London
Laville, S, Wong JC & Hunt, E 2016, The Women Abandoned to their Online Abusers, The Guardian, viewed 4 June 2020, <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/11/women-online-abuse-threat-racist>
