Trawling Twitter For Trolls

We chat with some infamous trolls to figure why they troll - religious beliefs, intolerance or just bad manners?

WrittenBy:Aastha Manocha
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Ask any Harry Potter fan worth his/her salt, how Ron and Hermione became friends, and they’ll say “the troll in the bathroom”. In the (relative) innocence of pre-Twitter days, a troll simply meant an ugly mythical creature up to no good. Today though, “troll” has become synonymous with a jackass on the internet who keeps abusing you for your ideology, looks, people you associate with, or just about anything in general.

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This new usage probably didn’t come from the mythical creature but from the verb “trolling”. It’s described in the dictionary as a fishing technique which involves “trailing a lure or baited hook from a moving boat”.

In the Indian context, the people who seem to get trolled the most are our news anchors. We have listened to complaints after complaints about their Twitter trolls. Recently, Rajdeep Sardesai even said that he’s not going to tweet about political issues anymore because he’s tired of his integrity being questioned. These trolls are usually of the Internet Hindu denomination. A term which coincidentally Rajdeep’s wife, Sagarika Ghose is supposed to have coined. In reference to the highly vocal and omnipresent pro-Hundtva/ right-wing twitterati who seem to pop out of the woodwork as anyone tweets anything about Narendra Modi or Hinduism.

As most complaints by Twitterati are about the “Internet Hindus” (we’re still waiting for the Internet Parsi to come along!), we talked to some of those who seemed to believe they were playing a part in exposing the “sickular” (a term used for those who are considered anti-Hindutva or ‘secular’), “Congi media” (Congress media which usually includes anyone who doesn’t support the BJP or VHP or RSS). A key characteristic of these Tweeters is that they hide themselves in anonymity, refusing to divulge their real identity or names or even gender.

“What I thought was unchangeable some time ago, Twitter has made possible to change, i.e. changing the course of a story and ensuring its impact.  For eg: #AMSclip – #paidmedia tried to hide it but tweeple rightfully highlighted for the entire world to see degradation of public lives by #CONgis”, says @TheHinduPhantom, a 30-something “globe-trotter due to work”.

“… we on the rightwing side have the ability to detect and smell out a fraud years ahead of others, like pro Hindu tweeple were already exposing @nilimdutta years ago whereas his friends in #paidmedia were sucking up to him and making him play in their laps and studios until he was caught by Assam police for various fraud cases”, he says. A veritable Sniffing Sherlock Holmes.

However, journalists themselves are dismissive of the claim that trolls have the power to change news coverage.

NDTV 24X7’s Kashish, who hosts the show ‘The Social Network’, unequivocally says that social media doesn’t set the agenda for news, not even on a show like hers’ which is based on the social media.

“There is a clear attempt by the trolls to set the agenda and make the news flow in its direction. But social media is a very diverse space. There are also voices of individuals and groups on social media that expose the vicious, one-sided, and often self-righteous indignation of the right wing trolls.”

“Many a times we get asked why something ‘trending’ hasn’t been picked up for the debate of the day. Trends can be fabricated, and as a social media show we are mindful of it. Our show’s mandate is to discuss the buzz on the social media, also because, so far, social media in South Asia is politically very charged”, she says.

“It is a misnomer that social media is driving the news”, says NDTV India’s Ravish Kumar. Giving the example of the recent hacked AP tweet and its effect on the financial markets, he said that social media still has a long way to go in establishing the same credibility as mainstream media.

However, he does agree that Twitter has made the news business more accountable. “It has demolished media’s sanctity but I can’t say whether it has bettered professionalism”.

The anchor who recently left Twitter also said that trolls in India belong to a specific ideological group, and their aggressiveness can’t be separated from their political nature. According to him, if Twitter and social media were truly neutral the issue of Pravin Togadia’s hate speech would have been raised by equal ferocity as that of Owaisi’s.

The language used against women is also a factor which shows the misogynist mentality prevalent there, he said.

The issue of abusive language while tweeting to anyone with a difference of opinion, was something we asked the trolls about. Although very polite with this writer, they said that whoever insults or criticises their ideology is essentially asking for it.

“Criticism should be there but a decent one… If anyone, be it male or female uses such poisonous adjectives then there is no line of civilised/cultured debate. He/she called it on themselves either to mock or gain sympathy”, says @KrodhitHindu, a 24-year-old who has studied abroad and now runs his family business in Maharashtra. But he adds he “does condemn abuse unnecessarily”. Most pragmatic we must say.

However, it’s not that “Internet Hindus” are not getting any competition. The likes of @AmareshMisra known for his abusive, violent and gender-biased tweets and Suryanarayan Ganesh or @gsurya while not hiding behind anonymity are known for their bilious tweets which can give many a run for their money.

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Image by: Swarnabha Bannerjee

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