Find the troll!
Internet trolls... You've probably seen a few on Twitter or Facebook. Like spammers they're everywhere and it is simply one of the constants of the internet.
Back in the day, they hid behind anonymity, having a weird username and no profile picture, and to an extent some of them still do.
But in the past decade, an interesting trend has been seen. Their goal, is to show that they're a real person, and they're not hiding behind a mask anymore. This is extremely true for politically motivated trolls.
Understanding them is quite important as their impact is world-changing, mostly due to how much of a scalable asset they are.
Trolls have been a massive resource to shift even presidential elections.
These troll farms try to impersonate real people, and spread a certain story, usually to their political benefits. Misinformed people then mistake these bot accounts for real people which in turn does one of two thing:
These people are exposed to a hyper radicalized version of their opposing opinion, which makes them despise the opposing people in its whole even more.
Or it reinforces their opinions, as if Twitter and Facebook weren't enough of echo chambers. (this article is a cool way to visualize it)
How hard is it to spot a troll account then? Mustn't be that hard. Right?
Well how about you go for a ride:
https://spotthetroll.org/
Spend a few minutes on this game, and you'll realize how far they come. And its only going to get worse.
I'll let you come to your own conclusions, but try to think about it every now and then!
