TROLLING AND TROLL POWER

Trolling defined as ‘to antagonize (others) online by deliberately posting inflammatory, irrelevant, or offensive comments or other disruptive content’ has gone viral in the real world. In geopolitics, troll power is increasingly augmenting the two traditional forms of power, hard and soft power.

Troll power is a form of negative soft power, one that imports the slashing mockery and grandstanding rhetorical gamesmanship seen in Twitter feuds into interactions between states and world leaders.

A wide range of actors use troll power around the world. Russia is the world’s preeminent troll power today. It regularly uses disinformation to promote confusion and induce paralysis in open democratic societies. Troll power depends on an adversary getting caught flat-footed and being dizzying with confusion about the basic facts and reality of what’s actually happening.

No matter what Putin decides to do and what plays out in the coming days, a key part of his approach is to use ‘troll power’ to deliberately confuse and exploit divisions in open societies like America and its European allies.

Troll power seeks not to persuade or even coerce but to ‘own’ and weaken political adversaries at home or abroad through verbal denigration designed to confuse, provoke, and divide them. Instead of enticing rivals to lean to some sort of alternative ideology or world view with positive soft power, Russia will continue to use troll power in efforts to gain advantage and compliance by knocking America and Europe off balance.

Troll is not a strategy. It is a tactic. Nor is it new- writers have used trolling as a tactic for centuries. But our network age has put troll power on steroids- and more world leaders have brought troll power into the mainstream of geopolitics. Troll power’s effect is magnetic because it engages audiences and reaches them daily through multiple platforms: it taps deeply into the psychology and very identities of people.

Political leaders and countries increasingly use troll power to block or tear down policy initiatives and stymie policies they oppose. Taken together, these actions disrupt the status quo and have the potential to shift power balance over time.

The geopolitical costs of troll power have been high. It actively sows divisions, creates barriers, and nurtures a nasty, anarchic environment that sees only bullies and victims instead of well-intentioned opponents who can work together to achieve results. In an international system increasingly defined by troll power, win-lose scenarios and costly miscalculations are more likely. The overuse of troll power erodes trust in institutions like the United Nations and others that serve as the bedrock of our democracy and the international order.

In geopolitics, a number of countries and non-state actors have been using troll power to intentionally spark chaos and misdirect. This upsets the traditional norms of diplomacy, aggravates tensions, triggers emotional responses, accelerates the media news cycle, and replaces informed publics with ones whipsawed and divided by exaggerations and outright lies. Russia will continue to use its troll power to erode the international order to its benefit, and whatever military actions it takes in Ukraine over the coming days or weeks will be supplemented with some form of its troll power.

Trolls aim to burn opponent’s energy and distract and misdirect attention from themselves and their own vulnerabilities. Targets of troll powers often end up indulging in simplistic trolling themselves. But replicating troll behavior is the quickest way to normalize their destructive practices and it takes their bait. Responding to trolling dedicates far too much energy to what are ultimately distractions in tackling the world’s major challenges.

The best way to counter troll powers is to build broader coalitions that can resist troll powers.