November 2020 Bar Bulletin
By RB Tewksbury
Internet trolls are emboldened by anonymity on social media platforms and lack of consequence for bad behavior. Ignoring a troll’s malicious and antisocial behavior can actually make this problem worse. Ignoring troll abuse often silences the victim and makes the Web a much less safe place to be.
Since 1994, I believed and perpetuated the conventional wisdom that claimed the best way to respond to an Internet troll is not to respond at all. The pretzel logic of troll-avoidance is predicated on an incorrect assumption that if you deprive trolls of attention (content), they’ll get bored and eventually go away.
In reality, this troll-avoidance...