Trolling
Also known as:
- harassment
- flaming
- hate raids
What is Risk ?
Digital risk factors associated with their interests and activities
Trolling is designed to provoke, annoy, offend, or threaten people. People who engage in trolling are called trolls. Trolls target a single person or group. They might:
- share embarrassing images or videos of someone
- target someone with offensive language
- distribute someone’s private information without permission – also known as doxxing
- disrupt live streams by harassment and spamming messages
Where this can happen
Risks and motivations
Risks
Being harassed, intimidated, or disrupted
People experiencing trolling can feel:
- anxious
- frustrated
- depressed
- provoked to self-harm
- suicidal
Trolling can make it more difficult for people to
- participate in online activities and share their views
- access online services
- seek help
- report a problem
Reputational damage
Trolling can damage a person’s reputation. Trolls might spread rumours about someone or reveal details about their private life.
Trolls could also create fake videos or images. They might use these to depict somebody negatively.
Financial harm
Trolling can result in financial loss and harm. For example, trolls might target a live stream and disrupt it through spam or offensive comments. This might result in a decline in viewers, advertisers being more reluctant to engage with the streamer, or trolls shutting down the stream itself.
Trolling could also target and disrupt an influencer’s profile. This could limit how easily they promote products or engage with their followers. It could also damage their ability to make money online.
Physical harm
Trolling can lead to offline harm. This could include:
- in-person harassment
- property damage
- physical violence
Lies and disinformation
Trolling can involve spreading lies about an individual or community. This can be upsetting and damaging.
Disinformation may also damage the reputation of individuals and organisations.
Disruption to communities
Extended periods of trolling can disrupt how a group or community operate online.
The group or community might close certain accounts or forum threads, or warn other users if the trolling is disruptive or upsetting.
Motivations
Young people might engage in trolling behaviours for several reasons. It can happen if someone:
- finds trolling others funny and likes getting a reaction
- is bored or seeking attention
- disagrees with a person’s or a group’s views or beliefs
- is pressured into doing so by peers or groups online. This can be true in the case of a pile-on
Anonymity online might also be a factor for why someone might troll others.
What you can do
You may be working with a young person who has been trolled online.
Many platforms have policies against forms of trolling. You can usually report trolling to the platform or website where it took place. Some trolling behaviours are criminal offences. You can report some behaviours to the police. These include:
- threats
- illegally obtaining personal information or hacking
- revenge porn
Some forms of trolling will amount to bullying. If a young person attends a school, you could consider contacting the school directly.
Section 89 of the Education and Inspections Act (2006) states that all maintained schools must have measures which encourage good behaviour and prevent all forms of bullying. Anti-bullying measures will either be part of a school’s behaviour policy, or part of a specific anti-bullying policy.
You may be working with a young person who is trolling or bullying others.
In these instances, you should follow your safeguarding procedures and child protection policy. Consider the type of trolling they are engaging in and whether this reveals any concerns for their safety.
If you are unsure about whether a specific behaviour is illegal, you should seek legal advice. If you think that a young person is at risk, follow your safeguarding procedure and read our safeguarding guidance.
Support
There are a number of ways to help a young person recover from experiencing trolling.
Many online platforms have reporting and blocking functions. These allow you to flag trolling behaviours and block or mute trolls. Some platforms let users control who can respond to their posts, or give them the option to manually review posts they are tagged in.
Depending on the severity of the trolling, you may need to make a report to the police.
You may decide to have a discussion with a young person who has experienced trolling.
Discussion could also include:
- how responding to trolls is not always helpful
- plans to report abuse and to block trolls where possible
- how to review security and privacy settings on online accounts
- how to collect evidence like screenshots
Read more about trolling
- The prevalence and impact of online trolling (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport) – File
- Don't feed the trolls (The Centre for Countering Digital Hate) – Website
- Why do people troll and what can you do about it? (BBC) – Website
- Searching for Safety Online: Managing "Trolling" in a Feminist Forum (The Information Society) – Journal
- Influence of trolling on social media participation (Emergent Research Forum (ERF)) – Journal
Share your experience of trolling
You can tell us about:
- other terms you might have heard
- conversations you’ve had with young people
- a related platform or app
- another related risk or harm