#socialmediatrolling

[mayapurimagazine]

[digitaltia-blog]

Stop the Trolls

One in three Australians say that they have been the victim of trolling online. Read on to find out about the introduction of the eSafety commissioner by the Australian government in response to trolls. 

Trolling refers to the action of posting malicious comments online exclusively to create chaos or get an emotional reaction out of a particular individual or group. Whilst they are majorically males who are heavy internet users and like to demonstrate other antisocial or sadistic behaviour online. Trolling occurs in the form of online harassment, cyber hate or general abusive behaviour. Danah Boyd (2013) says that social media has not radically altered the dynamics of bullying, but it has made these dynamics more visable which lends to the idea that a regulator or a governmental body is needed to make social media a safer space; especially for children and women are more likely to be targets of trolling.

In 2014, Peter Fletcher, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Communications, announced the appointment of Alastair MacGibbon, former AFP agent and eBay head of trust and safety, as its first Children’s e-Safety Commissioner. The Australian government believes a national leadership role, which has been established to effectively deal with complains and which has been backed by legislation, would get harmful cyberbullying material down fast from large social media services.  

The eSafety Commissioner has since grown to incorporate a women’s commissioner; with a mission to empower women to take control online. This shows that the Australian government is rightly acting against trolls and making society feel better and safer. However, the role of the eSafety Commissioner raises questions surrounding the responsibilities of existing social media in dealing with trolling; either they just don’t care or they’re not trying hard enough to tackle trolling. The eSafety Commissioner also acts as a regulator against trolls, but does that take away from a citizen’s right to freedom of speech in that their content may be removed for not sharing the same opinion and voicing this in what is interpreted as an aggressive way.

[mahalia-cochrane]

Week 7 - Trolling

A heavy downside of social media is that it allows its users to remain almost completely anonymous. This can be a HUGE issue, especially for younger users, as some people create social media accounts for the sole use of trolling. According to the Oxford Dictionary (2017), a troll is “a person who makes a deliberately offensive or provocative online post”. Often, trolls are fairly harmless. They may target a large internet personality who has hundreds of thousands of comments, and therefore are unlike to see their post, however, trolling can sometimes be extremely worrying. Sometimes trolls can target one person, on multiple accounts posting rude or explicit comments about them. Selkie (2015) has statistics showing that cyber bullying (which is a broader term for trolling) has been experienced by 40% of internet users. This is especially harmful to young users, who may not understand what trolling is. It can result in the receiver harming themselves in many ways, for example developing an eating disorder or in some cases suicide. 

An example that would come to many peoples minds when discussing social media trolling, cyber bullying and the effects it has on a person (especially a young person) would be Amanda Todd, as pictured above. Amanda Todd’s story went ‘viral’, including a video she posted on Youtube prior to her suicide. This 15 year old girl was bullied and trolled extensively on social media and pushed so far to the edge that she cut herself, drank bleach and killed herself. 

I think this case study alone shows how important it is to prevent social media trolls, as well as punishing those. Social media users should be informed of how to spot trolls prior to joining a site, as well as taught what can happen to social media trolls, as there are laws in place for them currently. A possible solution is to make a troll’s post invisible to the rest of the community (Oxford Dictionary 2017), however this cannot prevent the user from initially seeing it. Although it is hard to draw a line between simple banter and trolling sometimes, there should still be effort put in to try and find and stop as many trolls as possible, especially the most harmful ones. I think there should also be MUCH stricter legislation against social media trolls. 

References:

Oxford Dictionary 2017, https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/troll. 

Selkie, E M 2015, ‘Cyberbullying, Depression, and Problem Alcohol Use in Female College Students: A Multisite Study’, Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, no.18, vol. 2, pp. 79-86.