Trolls thrive on official indifference
Acting against abuse on social media platforms is arduous, not least because of Facebook’s own policies, writes Fiona Forde
Have you ever been trolled on Facebook? Have you ever been subjected to vile abuse sent to you over the social media platform? Have you ever tried to do anything about it? The chances are that if you had, you didn’t get very far, because Facebook trolling is extraordinarily tricky to fight, for a number of reasons. To begin with, Facebook is notoriously insular as an organisation and despite the nature of its core business — social networking — it tends not to engage or comment publicly, not even through or to the media. (Facebook did not respond to any questions sent to it for the purposes of this piece, not even through a local law firm that acts for it.) Second, those who engage in the act of sowing discord or posting inflammatory or extraneous statements over the internet (trolling) often lurk behind an alias that is difficult, though not impossible, to trace. Third, trolling is not defined as a crime in the South African statute book, which makes it difficult to challenge. Last...
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