EDITORIAL - Beware of the trolls

Anyone who has used the internet is probably familiar with the term “troll”. It no longer just means that creature in fairy tales. In conjunction with social media, a troll is someone who makes intentionally provocative or offensive messages to either insult someone else, draw attention to himself, or just stir up trouble.

Using trolls has become a strategy for some people against rivals in business and even love. And if the US government is to be believed, they were even used to influence the results of an election.

Yes, nameless and faceless trolls can influence the outcome of an election. They can publish the results of surveys that favor a certain candidate. They can spread news to promote the popularity of one candidate or make another look bad. They can make sweeping generalized statements about any person or idea.

The survey doesn’t have to be real, or the news true, or the statement correct; the role of an election troll is either to promote a campaign or bring it down, it isn’t to seek out the truth.

It would be ideal if the Commission on Elections or other governing bodies put safeguards to make sure trolls cannot exert their influence on the public.

However, we acknowledge this is easier said than done. We all have freedom of speech after all, even to spread news and survey results that are false, unethical as that may be.

The internet also has multiple platforms where one can express himself. There is no way authorities can monitor all of them.

And if the trolls being hired by a candidate to lift his campaign and put down others are actually located in another country, this makes stopping or going after them even more complex.

So it seems the best way to fight trolls is to not let them do their thing. To not help spread the misinformation and false news they post. To not even react to their vitriolic rants.

Again, it is easier said than done. Filipinos are passionate after all. We always feel the need to lash out when someone ridicules our beliefs or positions.

By engaging trolls we ourselves may unwittingly become participants in trolling. But if we refuse to feed the trolls we will actually starve them.