Review: Trolls maintained

Trolling, which includes practices like cyber-bullying and online harassment, have profoundly negative consequences. Prior to the advent of the Internet access, a lot of troll behaviour can be readily witnessed offline. Because of its cheap and decentralized model, being spread quickly by copying and pasting, the Internet affords the troll more options. Trolling, in its most general form, is about baiting. In contrast to criticism, the troll's expression is insincere and the act itself is born out of boredom. Trolling is an attack on a particular sentence in a comment, but in fact the attack is aimed at that person behind. Because trolls are often associated with hot events, individual behavior rises to become group behavior. Some controversies are more explicit than others, with silencing used to suppress truthtelling and controversies from public view. The suppression includes those of controversies pertaining to the targets of the trolls; the intent is to protect their own interest and prevent particular groups or communities from seeking redress. And these communities or groups give them a sense of belonging, which forms a vicious circle.

References: Eric Kerr & Clarissa Ai Ling Lee (2019): Trolls maintained: baiting technological infrastructures of informational justice, Information, Communication & Society