Unintentional Trolling: How Subjects Express Their Prejudices Through Made-up Stories
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Unintentional Trolling: How Subjects Express Their Prejudices Through Made-up Stories René Baston 1
& Benedict
Kenyah-Damptey 1
Received: 6 January 2020 / Accepted: 17 August 2020/ # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract It is often assumed that trolling is an intentional action. The aim of the paper is to argue for a form of unintentional trolling. Firstly, we outline minimal conditions for intentional actions. Secondly, an unintentional trolling example is introduced. Thirdly, we will show that in some cases, an utterance can be expressive, while it is perceived as descriptive. On the basis of the justification-suppression model, we argue that the introduced trolling example is such a case. In order to bypass social sanctions for expressing prejudices, agents unintentionally express their prejudices through stories that appear to be descriptive. Thereby, the characterized behavior does not fulfill the minimal conditions for intentional action. Fourthly, we give criteria that can be used to identify unintentional trolls. Finally, after unintentional trolling is analyzed, the trolls’ behavioral goals are considered. In conclusion, an analysis of unintentional trolling is given, which has explanatory benefits in contrast to the classic intentional trolling concepts. Keywords Trolling . Social networks . Fake news . Discrimination . Racism . Attitudes
1 Introduction In this paper, we will examine disruptive behavior on social media platforms, such as Facebook. This behavior is often referred to as “trolling,” which is typically considered as an intentional behavior. Drawing on data from the Wikipedia platform, Shachaf and Hara (2010) define trolling as: “repetitive, intentional and harmful actions” (p. 363). By intentionally breaking certain rules of conduct, trolling damages the platforms on which * René Baston [email protected] Benedict Kenyah-Damptey [email protected]
1
Department of Philosophy, Heinrich-Heine University, Universitätsstr. 1, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany
R. Baston, B. Kenyah-Damptey
it takes place, and the people that repeatedly perform these disruptive acts are “trolls.” As motivations for trolling Shachaf and Hara list boredom, the search for attention, fun, and a desire for revenge. Such behavior causes harm to an online community and might lead to its destruction. This can happen, for example, if an actor harms the online community whose political views they do not share. Phillips (2016) detailed study on the trolling subculture describes trolling as an intentional activity, too. Phillips describes the values and mechanisms at play: the objective is that of “lulz,” which is the enjoyment of other people’s rage or embarrassment. Hunting for lulz is the goal of trolling behavior and a justification for it (hence the widespread phrase “I did it for the lulz”). One important mechanism of trolling is the use of memes: they conserve and share the gained lulz.1 For instance, if a person reacts angrily because they are a victim of trolling (i.e., lulz was achieved by the troll),
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