The prevalence and impact of online trolling of UK members of parliament

an article by Shazia Akhtar and Catriona M.Morrison (University of Bradford, UK) published in Computers in Human Behavior Volume 99 (October 2019)

Highlights

• A substantial proportion of UK MPs report being the victims of online trolling.
• Trolling is most common on the twitter platform.
• Male MPs report more concerns over reputational damage.
• Female MPs report more personal concerns, e.g., safety, risk to family, social life.

Abstract

Online trolling is a new phenomenon that is increasingly coming to public attention. Recent events in the United Kingdom (UK) have raised concerns about this behaviour.

Trolling is particularly targeted at public figures, and Members of Parliament (MPs) are a prime target.

In this study we surveyed UK MPs about their experiences and the impact of being trolled by completing a short online questionnaire.

One-hundred and eighty-one MPs responded to our survey. Chi-square tests for independence and one-way ANOVA was employed to analyse the data.

All MPs had experienced trolling and many were trolled multiple times a day, and the principal platforms for this abuse were Twitter and Facebook. The pattern of trolling varied between male and female targets, with males reporting more concern about reputational damage, and females more concern about their personal safety. The impact of being trolled varied between males and females, with a much greater impact on female MPs. We discuss the effects of online trolling on the victims of this behaviour.

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The use of nondialogic trolling to disrupt online communication

an article by Brian C. Britt (University of Alabama, USA) published in First Monday Volume 24 Number 10 (October 2019)

Abstract

Trolling, a uniquely common antisocial behavior in online communities, has traditionally been conceptualized as a phenomenon based in group dialogue. Yet it is possible for trolling to occur without any actual dialogue between the troll and the intended targets.

In this paper, several methods of trolling are presented, each of which is performed through engagement with user-generated media artifacts rather than through back-and-forth conversation among users.

These are broadly grouped into four categories based on the type of media engagement that is exploited:

• content creation,
• content curation,
• content evaluation, and
• content refinement.

This manuscript therefore fills a significant gap in the literature on this topic and helps to resolve a limitation in existing explications of the construct by showing its applicability to a wider range of behaviors than previously acknowledged.

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