Under attack

“What is a stock market?” asked one of my followers on Twitter. This was in retaliation to the fact that I had not replied to his earlier query: “What is Nifty?”

There was another bloke would converse normally most of the time, but would suddenly say: “Eat vegetables. They are good for health.” These guys may not mean much harm, but are definitely a waste of your valuable time. Internet trolls, a term for people who post inflammatory, controversial or off-topic messages online are becoming increasingly common on Twitter – because it offers anonymity and they can post under pseudonyms. Many are reported and promptly banned, but make a comeback under a different name. Prime targets are those who have many followers and unfortunately, women.

Some trolls are ‘organised' and attack in groups. They also find out who your friends and family are on Twitter and abuse them too. “It's a professional hit job,” says a female acquaintance, a trader and writer who is frequently targeted by trolls. “For women, it is difficult to know what to do. They're not easy to ignore and you can't really fight back in any way. You just have to live with it.”

A recent victim of trolls was a television anchor, again, a woman. She had posted a recorded interview as a live one by accident. The attacks continued even after the anchor and the television channel apologised.

Politicians are almost always on the receiving end of abuse by trolls. A particular Chief Minister of a right-wing party is a frequent target. Although the Chief Minister tweets regularly, he doesn't respond to trolls, which seems to be an effective ‘response', as they get fed up and stop after a few abusive tweets.

Companies in the service business, especially telecom companies, also face abuse from irked customers. The companies cannot hit back as it is a public forum. Many of them take the easy way out: “Please email us your concern. We will look into it,” is the standard response to avoid further abuse.

Whether we like it or not, morphed pictures, not-so-funny cartoons and plain abuse have become a part of social media. But the majority of Twitter and Facebook users are against any sort of pre-censorship as suggested by Kapil Sibal. Even my friend the trader says it is wrong and the Government can use existing laws to handle the situation. But does that mean that we should allow trolls a free run in cyberspace?

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