A Reflection on Trolling: Me and My Trolls

Social media can be a place of communication, inspiration and even advocation. A happy place, full of memories and an online web of close-knit friends. But now, more than ever before, people are sat mindlessly consuming copious amounts of images and videos on their phones and devices. Swiping through post after post, the people we see can easily become a graphic on our screen; we can forget the faces and humanity behind the photos.

The Social Dilemma on Netflix has highlighted the entirely unprecedented, but devastating, effects of social media. No sane person could have had the clairvoyance to anticipate how social platforms have become the perfect host for bullies and trolls to feed. Yet, beauty journalist Sali Hughes, knows this sad reality all too well. She shared her story in a BBC Radio 4 show File on 4: Me and My Trolls.

“For over a year, I’d been one of many targets on what’s known as a trash talk or dragging-website, a relatively new type of online forum on which people with a social media presence, have their private life and work dissected, trashed and speculated about on dedicated discussion threads.”

With Sali’s career hinged so dependently on public reputation, the abuse affecting her name was insurmountable and harmful to both her personal and professional life. Understandably, Sali was left asking ‘what motivates a person to obsessively follow someone they cannot stand online?’.

The answer to how best to respond to abuse of this kind remains somewhat enigmatic. Should victims like Sali shrug it off and move on, or feed the fire and give the vile bullies the attention they so desperately crave? Sali felt she could no longer ignore the abuse. Proud of her honourable reputation she worked hard to deserve, her ‘livelihood depends on honesty’; and thus, she decided to expose her horrible online experience.

When Sali spoke out against her trolls, they were only invigorated by the attention. Does it make them happy they’re inciting pain into other people’s lives? How miserable and dissatisfied does one have to be to project such anguish so violently over the internet? Does being mean bring joy to their own otherwise vacuous, pitiful lives? These lame trolls are comparable to high-school bullies; the name calling, the false accusations, the mocking and gossiping. The type of childish behaviour rarely seen in adults.

Their anonymity was their superpower. Hidden pathetically behind their keyboard, their faceless identity meant their anonymous trolling was relentless and unrestrained. However, one troll who saw Sali’s Instagram video revealing her horrendous experience, stopped.

Becky* reached out to Sali, which ultimately led them to meet, after she agreed to take part in Sali’s interview telling of her horrific online torment. Shivering ‘outside a café in South-West London’, they sat nervously, divulging into the motivation behind Becky’s comments.

There are probably multiple positions of blame for these awful acts, but personal accountability is the most blatant. Becky insisted she was a ‘normal person’, a ‘nice mum’ and ‘a good friend’. She questioned her motives:

‘How did somebody so normal, end up being involved in something that is so hurtful? How was I so blind to how thoroughly unpleasant I was being?’

Understandably, Sali was also lost for answers. Becky continued to admit that much of her hateful words and unjust speculation was mostly projection. A toxic manifestation of her own insecurity. ‘It was a way of me trying to solve my own problems. It’s actually nothing to do with you.’

Slightly reassuringly for Sali, at least Becky was able to somewhat repent, and recognise her behaviour was from within her own dissatisfaction and almost entirely irrelevant to Sali’s character or actions. However, despite Becky recognising she is obviously to blame for her bulling, the platforms themselves, only interested in directing traffic to their site, are all too conveniently ignorant of the abuse. Fuelled by the mean comments, the words written on the platform have no bearing, as long as the comments continue. The more traffic, the more comments, the more ad revenue, the more money generated, the less the site will care about what words will are being written and what comments are being said. Sad. Driven by capitalist greed and selfish profit, unfortunately for Sali and many other notable online figures, the sites themselves are the perfect host for the defamation and persecution. 

*Becky’s name is changed for privacy

All quotes are taken from ‘Me and My Trolls’

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