July 1, 2019

The Assessment had two principal objectives: (i) to establish a working definition of trolling, including both hate content and online abuse; and (ii) to develop a better understanding of the nature, prevalence and impact of online trolling, as well as developing a profile of “typical” trolls and their victims.

Key findings include:

• the term trolling is used in the literature to cover a broad range of abusive online activities, with no uniform definition being applied;
• estimates of the prevalence of trolling identified within the literature vary widely, according to the definition of trolling used and the population studied (including factors such as age, gender, physical location and social group);
• establishing the profile of a “typical” troll is difficult, with at least fourteen different definitions of trolling being put forward in the existing literature;
• a number of possible motivations for trolling can be found in the literature reviewed for the study, including a need for attention, everyday sadism, low self-confidence, lack of empathy, and a desire for amusement;
• there is limited literature dealing with trolling as a stepping stone to further negative behaviours and a lack of existing research;
• there is evidence suggesting that online and offline behaviour of trolls is closely related and cannot be totally decoupled;
• certain groups within society are particularly affected by online trolling and the related phenomenon of cyber-bullying, including women, ethnic minorities, religious groups, people with disabilities, and the LGBTQ community;
• there is very little quantitative evidence available regarding the impact of trolling on victims’ online and offline behaviour;
• the literature reviewed highlights two types of approaches to combat online trolling: (i) automatic mechanisms, which rely on algorithms or other forms of artificial intelligence; and (ii) human-based interventions, such as online community group decisions to ignore trolls;
• very few papers were found which assessed effectiveness or efficiency of reporting mechanisms on social media platforms, suggesting there is little-to-no research on how effective this is;
• there is limited information available on how major online platforms address trolling and the effectiveness of the strategies currently being used; and
• more research is needed to gain a clearer understanding of what trolling is, how it is affecting UK society and what needs to be done to effectively counter its negative impacts.

To access the Assessment, click here.