We See a Lot of Moral Policing but it's Time to Police Trolls!

As much as we are part of the internet generation, we also belong to the internet trolling generation. We love making trolls and laughing at them but unfortunately, this activity is crossing all the lines of morality. The word “Internet troll” has been invented by this tech-savvy generation.

A person (The troll maker) makes a deliberately offensive or provocative online post with the aim of upsetting someone (Troll) or eliciting an angry response from them. Most of us get policed by many over our behaviour, morals, dressing and way of life. It’s sad to see no moral policing happening for trolling.

While many may ignore and not pay heed to such trolls, some might due to the overwhelming number of trolls and presence of it online.

We’ve had examples of Ms Tamiisai Soundarajan who laughed at the trolls made about her. Most of the trolls aimed at her were funny and she brushed it off as being hilarious. Unfortunately, not all posts are funny. Some trolls are offensive, dirty, sexist, degrading, defamatory and absolutely humiliating. Such posts effect a lot of people. Not just celebrities but in fact common people. The people around them are also equally affected because of trolling.

Read other stories in #TryTrollHer here

We are all aware of the presence of such trolls online but hardly anything is done towards preventing or understanding them.

MTV Troll Police hosted by Rannvijay Singh is one such unique show, first of its kind to find and expose serial troll makers of celebrities. Four episodes up and it has definitely stirred up a conversation offline as well as online. The concept of the show is to break the code of the most frequent troll makers.

A couple of the troll makers were seen apologizing while a few were really adamant about their stance. One thing that was common in the four episodes was that all the four troll makers were men. The troll makers of RJ Malishka and Hard Kaur were driven by male ego that they refused to apologise for the trauma they had caused both the artists. Both the troll makers repeatedly said that they were big fans of Rannvijay but ill-treated both the artists. Both the cases of trolls were because of the bruised male ego.

An uncensored show like this has definitely a great impact on the youth. To witness the trauma that one goes through due to such trolls is eye-opening. Be celebrities or common people, everybody has very strong emotions. To play with one’s emotions is the last that we as responsible netizens should even think of doing.

The presence of such shows and efforts of many websites working towards preventing trolls has definitely brought in a change in attitude.

One such effort is done by Troll Patrol, a campaign initiated by Rahel Philipose, Mira Bhan, Hitanksha Jain and Kshitija Gurav. The campaign is to counter violent extremism against women on the internet and are using the hashtag #Womenoftheinternet. Rahel says, “The campaign aims to help and hear out women’s experiences of abuse and troll on the internet. Women are subjected to trolls and abuse for having an opinion that one does not approve of or does not believe it. Navigation of women in the cyberspace has become difficult and the campaign hopes to make women aware that it should not be so. This space is as much as for a woman as it is for anybody else.”

Trolling is not a job that can create a revenue nor is it a recreational activity, it’s abject defamation and has legal repercussions.

It’s important that people start spreading awareness about defamatory trolls and its obnoxious effects. We need to hear stories, understand it and lend her help to overcome this trauma caused by the cyberspace.

Also Read: How to stop violence against women in India — train police officers

Reshma is an intern with SheThePeople.TV