8 Common Internet Trolling Tactics (And How to Handle Them)

In this post, I’ll discuss the all-too-common problem of internet trolling and explain some of the tactics trolls use. I’ll also look at the important links between online trolling, disinformation, and cyber warfare campaigns.

What is internet trolling?

Anyone who has spent much time on social media has likely experienced their fair share of internet trolling. It’s become the norm when we spend so much time online and hidden behind our screens.

Internet trolling is especially common in discussions about contentious topics such as politics, abortion, race, and gender identity. But what exactly is trolling? And how can you tell the difference between a troll and a real person who is just being nasty?

A troll is a social media user who posts deliberately provocative messages to accounts, forums, or comment threads with the intention of disrupting discussion, causing arguments, and upsetting people. Sometimes trolling intercepts with another dubious practice — astroturfing.

Trolls are more than just unpleasant individuals who enjoy harassing others. They actively seek to draw their opponent into a never-ending argument, wasting as much of the opponent’s time as possible while making them angry and frustrated.

Why is it called internet trolling?

The word “troll” might conjure images of an ugly mythical creature living under a bridge. That’s fairly appropriate — but the real origins of the term are quite different.

Before the world moved online, a troll wasn’t a monster but a fisherman. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “troll” as follows:

Troll (verb)

to fish with a hook and line that you pull through the water

to search for or try to get (something)

to search through (something)

Online trolls are “fishing” for responses. They’re searching for engagement because it gives them satisfaction and dopamine hits. Increasingly, trolling is also part of campaigns to achieve political agendas — more on that below. In many cases, trolls don’t really care about the actual topic being discussed. They just show up to generate arguments.

What are the most common internet trolling tactics?

Knowing your enemy is vital. Here’s a primer on the most common internet trolling tactics.

Ad Hominem Attacks

Short for argumentum ad hominem, this Latin phrase translates as “to the person.” It describes a rhetorical strategy where the speaker attacks something personal about their opponent — character, motive, or some other attribute — instead of attacking the substance of the argument itself. Online trolling often relies on ad hominem attacks to derail discussion. It’s an unsophisticated technique, and social media users commonly notice it and call trolls out.

Whataboutism

Also known as whataboutery, whataboutism is the tactic of responding to a statement or argument by accusing the opponent of even worse faults or crimes. Trolls often leverage it in political discussions — for example, a pro-Trump troll might respond to a valid critique of Trump by referring to something supposedly worse about Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden. In many instances, these “even worse” examples are pure disinformation.

Sealioning

This tactic, named after an online comic, involves the troll asking relentless questions about the topic of discussion, even after the opponent has explained it in detail numerous times. When called out, the troll insists they’re being civil and just want to learn. In reality, their game is to keep the opponent online as long as possible, derailing the original discussion and making them frustrated and angry. Trolls often use sealioning to derail discussions of important but contentious issues, such as climate change.

Debate Obsessives

Some trolls hold forth on the great value of debate, claiming it’s all they seek. They make debating seem like a wholesome pastime, luring unsuspecting opponents into never-ending and fruitless interactions. When challenged, they invoke their “freedom of speech” and claim it’s being denied to them. Don’t fall for this tactic. It’s not proper debate — they just want to waste your time.

Sockpuppetry

Not everyone you encounter online is who they claim to be. Sockpuppetry is a technique where the same person controls multiple fake accounts. It’s often used in cyberwarfare and astroturfing campaigns to create a false perception of public opinion. Sock puppets also engage in trolling because it helps their operators drive division between different identity groups — a key objective of cyberwarfare campaigns, such as the Russian one that helped bring Trump to power.

Ardent Researchers

These trolls harp on about “doing your own research,” which has become a common catchphrase among conspiracy theorists. They appear on discussion threads with inflammatory remarks like “COVID-19 is a hoax” or “Bill Gates is responsible for the pandemic.” When people ask for evidence, the trolls tell them to go “do your own research” and may also accuse others of being “sheeple” — brainwashed by the mainstream.

The Strawman Fallacy

This is a logical fallacy where trolls counter an opponent’s argument by putting forth a ridiculously exaggerated or distorted version of it, which is then much easier to defeat. The distortion is where the name “straw man” comes from — a weak imitation of the original. Trolls often use the strawman fallacy in political arguments or arguments about emotive topics like abortion or the death penalty.

Tribalism

These trolls take advantage of our natural tendency towards tribalism by stoking conflict between groups. It’s most often seen in political discussions — Democrats vs. Republicans, Leavers vs. Remainers — but also surfaces in discussions about seemingly unrelated issues, such as mask-wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tribalism in online trolling involves making derogatory remarks about the perceived outgroup. Trolls who create intergroup conflict often have a vested interest, such as being part of a political influence operation.

Hate Mongering

Some of the tactics above can be quite subtle. There’s nothing subtle about hate mongering. These trolls may spew racist and misogynistic attacks, use hate speech, or issue death threats. All of these behaviors go against social media platforms’ terms of use, so it’s worth reporting them. Normally, Twitter is more responsive to these violations than Facebook.

Internet trolling and influence operations

Internet trolling has become more sinister in recent years. Investigators revealed it played a role in influence operations around both the 2016 US election and Brexit. The Russia-based Internet Research Agency (IRA) used tactics such as meme warfare to create identity groups and then set them against one another.

Now, with the US 2024 election coming up, online trolling tactics have evolved to become more subtle, according to new research. That’s why it’s so important to be familiar with these tactics. Knowing the key signs of fake accounts gives ordinary social media users a fighting chance of defending themselves against coordinated attacks on democracies.

How to deal with internet trolling

There are no magic solutions to the troll problem. There will always be trolls — whether paid to push an agenda or trolling simply because it amuses them. But social media platforms do provide a few options to lessen the effects.

Ignore or mute the troll using Twitter’s mute function. On Facebook, turn off notifications for the relevant comment thread.
Muting is better than blocking because it denies the troll the satisfaction of a response. But if a troll is really bothering you, the block function is available on any platform.
If you must reply, do it once — then mute the troll or switch off your notifications.
Report hate speech and threats to the platform. As noted above, this works better on Twitter than Facebook.