For the last 6 months, I’ve been a member of a Signal group called ‘trollhunters’. A small group of people who’d noticed - & been disturbed by - the extreme trolling that happens here & had come together to try & figure it out. To understand how pile-ons were being organised..
1/

We take so much of what happens on here as ‘normal’. It’s not. That’s not say it’s ‘bots’ - though they come into it. Or Russian trolls - though they’re here too. Often it’s ordinary people. With a greater or less degree of organisation. Who come together to bully & inflame
2/

It’s been fascinating to eavesdrop on their conversations. And to learn with them. I feed them my trolls - look at this guy, I say, who doesn’t follow me or anyone I know but is on my case calling me a cunt & a criminal within seconds of a post. I have so many of those.
3/

It’s also - speaking frankly - helped me deal with what has, at times, been quite extreme. Because let me let you into a secret: cyber bullying is bullying.

Anyway, the upshot is that we’re taking this Signal group public. We want more people to understand this stuff.
4/

Because we need to figure out what to do about it. It’s polluting our public space, destroying our politics, manipulating our media & silencing critical voices.

And it ain’t going to be the platforms that fix this. Or the government
5/

So...it’s probably pissing in the wind, but we’re going to piss.

@allthecitizens is starting a series of workshops with the troll hunters & invited guests This week we’re kicking off with ex-CIA analyst @CindyOtis_ & disinfo academic @marcowenjones
6/ https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_33FslvIzS0mTfk_6LASGnA