Trolls Taking Toll: How Anonymous Twitter IDs Create Havoc

In today’s world, in which the Internet is extremely accessible, a click enables us to not only get information we need, but also transmit information with equal ease. Each smart phone is a news channel these days. In the early days of the Internet, we mostly used them to gather information, but things have changed in the last decade. 

In this new world too much information is floating around us and there is too much to take in. Hence, the attention span for a particular piece of information or news is very small and few question the credibility of the information afloat. For example, sometime ago, three men raped a woman in an auto-rickshaw and threw her baby out on the road, leading to the baby’s death. The authorities circulated sketches of the three criminals and the rapists were soon caught.

Some people, though, are still circulating their sketches with much display of anger and an attitude of doing some good to society. They are right in a way, but they are wrong. They are not up-to-date with the latest information that the rapists are now behind bars.

There are many incidences every day of contradictory news being in circulation. People share them on the basis of the one that adheres to their side of the story or to be more precise, the one that reflects their prejudices. The question is: who will verify the facts and who will act against this maddening circulation of unauthentic information? Is it even humanly possible to regulate such a thing in such a massively populated country like India, in which every Tom, Dick and Harry is trying to be a new-age journalist and sound like an intellectual? Well, there is a more threatening group that is misinterpreting news − the Anonymous IDs.

In a series of recent events, an anonymous Twitter handle posted a link to a blog, which finally sparked the TVF scandal, in which TVF founder, Arunabh Kumar, allegedly sexually abused and harassed women. Cases have been filed against him and we still do not know if the charges are true. Going by the experience of our judiciary system, it may take years for the case to be solved. Should Kumar not be proved guilty, he will never surface in the news again, as the titillating part of the news was the scandal and an accused not being proved guilty is not scandalous.

Even though, it is just an ID, the implications it has on people’s minds and their lives is enormous. The issue here is that the girl who posted the blog accusing the TVF founder of sexual harassment and the Twitter handle through which the post went viral (as the handle claims) are both anonymous. This particular Twitter handle posted a lot of wrong information during the tenure of this case. It said, for instance, that Bisht, a very integral part of the TVF team, had quit her job. The information was considered true till Bisht confirmed that she was not quitting. The anonymous handle did not even apologise for, or recognize the error.

This particular Twitter handle speaks against the government and the corporate sector, even as the account holder calls himself an insider in both government and the corporate sector. Now, what does the term “insider” really describe here? And if he is actually an insider, why is he hiding behind a disguised ID.

Such IDs say that they are exposing the startup culture’s fake claims. They claim to bring the wrongdoings of the government and the corporate sector to the surface, but what they are actually doing, is feed the news that is already out in the open. And these IDs just try to humiliate people − sometimes they humiliate culprits, but most of the time they humiliate innocent, hard-working people. The worrisome fact here is that all these ID’s have many followers who may not be intellectuals, but are sensible enough to make a difference to the country.

There is a group of such IDs, individuals who are hiding behind the screen manipulating facts and humiliating genuine people with real identities. 

The trend shows how these spineless people, who cannot be upfront about their real identities, are harming people, who at least do have spines and project themselves through their real identities and have a reputation at stake. The upright are fencing these so-called intellectuals, who hide behind funny IDs.

There are different sets of IDs working against the same theme. Yes, they are working against everything and everybody and strangely, are not for anything. Their vision does not seem to be clear. What are they really expressing? What are they really concerned about? Are they concerned about the startups? The infrastructure? The economy? Are they at the very least, concerned about our country and our fellowmen? If so, why do they not come out in the open and discuss the real things with real people?

It seems they desperately want to prove that they have a vision, but a vague one and that, the approach to it is even vaguer. So what do they have to offer to the people who follow them? Some scintillating news, perhaps, most of it comprising lies garnished with little facts that make them seem tempting. The reality is that such people are deviating the youth from the truth. The youth needs to know the truth, which is not sugary but not that bitter either. 

The worst part is that there is no system in our country to regulate or prevent such IDs and the wrong information they float around in the virtual front − which incidentally, has turned more real than the reality itself during the past decade. Like RTI, there should be an Act, through which we have the right to ask people who they are and what is the credibility of the information they are providing us? If we want to protect the environment of news broadcasting, there is a huge sector which needs to be regulated. As President Pranab Mukherjee recently said, “In noise it is difficult to understand what is important.” Hence, it is very important that we know what is fake in this rapidly rising culture of the Internet, to be able to rise above our biases and stop reinforcing our biases.

Disclaimer: Above views are of the author who does not wish to identify herself. She has herself been a victim of anonymous stalking and wished anonymity. BW Businessworld does not adhere itself to the views expressed above.