How Trolls Operate (part 2)
Now that we've looked at why the fitness and feminist communities were targeted for the "bikini bridge" troll, let's take a look at the methods the trolls used to ensnare these groups as well as the media and social commentators.
According to the Buzzfeed article, and true to the initial 4chan poster's plan, the trolls began by creating the impression that the bikini bridge is looking to be the net big summer fad prior to engaging either of the two groups central to the controversy. They created fake screen shots of celebrity twitter feeds (such as Katy Perry and Justin Bieber) casually mentioning the bikini bridge in a positive manner. They also posted an article on Buzzfeed (in the unmoderated section of their website) as well as on the CNN website. The "celebrity endorsement" and realistic looking articles apparently did the trick. Within 24 hours, there were over 2000 tweets and over 100,000 favorites associated with the fake celebrity endorsements. In almost no time at all, trolls created the impression that the bikini bridge is real and destined to be the next big summer trend.
This is an important step. A few trolls infiltrating an online community and talking about how cool they think bikini bridges are risk being dismissed as trolls if the existence of a bikini bridge fad cannot be substantiated. After all, a troll ceases to be a troll the moment it is recognized as one. No one will engage with them, and no one would spread the news of the latest fad to their friends as the trolls want. However, if a foundation has been created, so that when someone googles "bikini bridge" they find substantial content on it (including Justin Bieber's endorsement and thousands of twitter hits) suddenly the bikini bridge fad seems real, and the comments of a few trolls might be seen as the genuine beliefs of real people commenting on the latest trend. Rather than people blowing off the trolls, people would likely feel compelled to engage them- to either show their support and embrace the fad, or to try and "talk sense" to them by showing how harmful trends like this can be for women's self esteem.
The media was a big help with this. Every article that sprouted up decrying the bikini bridge also helped to legitimize it as an actual fad that actual people are embracing. Even if the writers of these articles knew the fad was a hoax, by engaging with it, by speaking to the larger societal issues they felt it highlighted- they legitimized it and exposed it to more people. As the Buzzfeed article mentioned- by this point, sorting out the work of trolls and the work of honest people, became nearly impossible. As one commenter put it (who claims to have been in on the troll) when addressing the writer of a Washington Post article on the subject:
... The goal of Operation Bikini Bridge was not to "Invent" the bikini bridge as you put it, but to popularize it among alternative social media sites. We wanted to see if we could get a term to go viral. So I suppose I should be somewhat thankful; your article greatly helps our cause. 4chan does not care whether women have a bikini bridge or not. It is the media that have linked the term to women's health problems. We merely sought to test our powers by adding a term to social media vocabulary. It is the "thinspiration" and "fat-shaming" crowd that hijacked the term, inadvertently furthering our operation. 4chan was merely the catalyst. You, Caitlin, are our obedient messenger. -Anonymous
Though I disagree with the writer's claim that it was "inadvertent" when the "thinspiration" crowd picked up on the term (the initial 4chan posting made it clear this crowd was a big part of their plan), this comment highlights the media's role in assisting trolls spread chaos. Though it was trolls that started this fake trend, in just a matter of weeks, fake became real. Fiction became non-fiction. Myth became reality. Is there anything more chaotic than that? Than not knowing what is real and what isn't?









