Chinese collective trolling

Abstract

The vast majority of research on online trolling focused on Western cultures. Given the role context plays in shaping online interactions, it is important to take into account its socio‐cultural context and investigate the role of national culture, by conducting research into trolling in Eastern cultures. In this paper, we attempt to begin addressing this gap by focusing on Chinese collective trolling, looking at Sina Weibo's PG One case. Specifically, we aim to identify who are the major players, what are the metaphors they use, and what are the major trolling tactics employed in Chinese collective trolling event. Using a mixed‐method approach, we analyzed 2,004 posts and 9,967 comments on Sina Weibo's PG One case, of which 480 were sampled for thematic content analysis. Major contributions of this study include an account of collective trolling in Chinese cultural context that is characterized by role switching between trolls, bystanders, and victims during the various stages of the event. We conclude with suggestion for future research directions.

Global Trolling: The Case of “America First”

“…This paper focuses on global trolling, as it manifests itself on YouTube in the form of videos with overt satirical political content. While early research focused attention on deviant behaviors and malevolent trolling [1], more recently the focus shifted to satirical, ideological, collective, and political trolling from countries around the globe [2,3,4]. Some scholars studied motivation behind trolling behavior [5,6], while others focused on the perceptions and reactions to trolling [2].…”

“…There is research on specific cases of trolling from the USA [7,8], UK [9,10,11], China [4,12], Israel [6,13], Italy [14], New Zealand [15], and Russia [16]. Collectively, these studies raise a question about the extent and nature of trolling globally.…”

“…Trolls are driven by motives that range from political and ideological to malevolent to personal enjoyment [5], revenge and thrill seeking [6,24]. While early research focused attention on deviant behaviors and malevolent trolling, the focus has now shifted to satirical, ideological, collective, and political trolling from countries around the globe [4,12,14,16]. With regards to this paper, studies of collective, ideological and satirical trolling cases of American, Chinese and Russian trolls are most applicable [4,12,14,16,22].…”

“…Scholars report on ideological and political trolling from around the globe through examples from China, Italy, and the USA [4,12,16,22]. The examples include: 1) ideological trolling by the Kremlin troll that is believed to be paid by a foreign government -in this case Russia [16]; 2) fake political accounts, which are humorous social media accounts; Italy uses satire as a form of activism [14] by assuming fake identities and taking advantage of anonymity on online platforms; 3) likewise social and political ideology drive trolling behaviors in the USA, using satire and humor [21,22].…”

“…Politically driven trolling also occurs between countries, and in a recent report by The Institute for the Future, the authors describe how state-sponsored online hate and harassment campaigns are being used to intimidate and silence government critics at scale [19]. Moreover, Russian troll farms and Chinese collective trolling are reported to utilize humor and sarcasm in political or popular culture trolling events [4,12].…”