Trolling is a specific type of cyber-bullying that often involves spamming, hate-speech, doxxing attacks, and other forms of harassment.
Trolling is a specific type of cyber-bullying that often involves spamming, hate-speech, doxxing attacks, and other forms of harassment.
Early in 2019, trolls found a video of newly-elected U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that was taken when she was a college student in 2010. They edited a short clip to make her look provocative, and then helped it go viral. (In reality, the video showed her and a friend recreating the benign dance sequence from The Breakfast Club movie.)
Controlling trolls online has forced many of us—as well as media outlets—to take a position on the line between freedom of speech and censorship. Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram updated their community standards to limit hate speech. Reddit has banned groups like r/incels for violating the site’s community standards (though there is plenty of awful content still to be found on the rest of the site).
And yet, neo-Nazi site Daily Stormer resurfaced in February 2018 after being effectively shut down by their domain host. State-sponsored trolling is most often linked to Russia but according to research from Oxford University, 28 countries and counting have cyber troops of humans and bots for the purpose of manipulating public opinion on social media. (For further reading, we recommend accessing Oxford’s full report “Troops, Trolls, and Troublemakers.”)
This trend is part of our section on Privacy. Other trends in this section include:
Accountants, Advertising and Public Relations, Aerospace, Agriculture, Airlines, Alternative Energy Production & Services, Architectural Services, Auto Manufacturers, Banking, Bars & Restaurants, Beauty, Beer, Wine and Liquor, Book Publishers, Broadcasters, Radio and TV, Builders/General Contractors, Cable & Satellite TV Production & Distribution, Casinos/Gambling, Chemical & Related Manufacturing, Civil Servants/Public Officials, Clergy & Religious Organizations, Clothing Manufacturing, Commercial TV & Radio Stations, Construction, Corporate Boards & Directors, Covid-19/ coronavirus, CPG, Cruise Ships & Lines, Defense, Diplomacy, Doctors & Other Health Professionals, Drug Manufacturers, Education Colleges & Universities, Education K-12, Education Online, Education Trades, Electric Utilities, Entertainment Industry, Environment, Finance, Foreign & Defense Policy, Gas & Oil, Government - International, Government - National, Government - State and Local, Health Professionals, Heavy Industry, Hedge Funds, Hospitality, Hotels/Motels/Tourism, Human Resources, Information Technology, Infrastructure, Insurance, Law Enforcement, Lawyers/Law Firms/Legal Industry, Lobbyists, Luxury Retail, Magazines, Manufacturing, National Security, News Media, Non-profits/Foundations/Philanthropists, Online Media, Pharmaceuticals/Health Products, Private Equity, Professional Services, Professional Sports, Radio/TV Stations, Real Estate, Retail, Technology Company, Telecommunications, Trade Associations, Transportation, Travel Industry, TV Production, TV/Movies/Music, Urban Planning, Utilities, Venture Capital, Waste Management, Work (Future of)