Troll Inc. is a 2018 documentary about an online movement that is using the click-bait obsessed mass media to propel their agenda into the mainstream.
Trolling is known as the act of making unsolicited and often controversial comments on internet forums, social media sites and anything that is open to the public domain. You may also know trolling as a malicious form of online bullying that has been life-ruining for many innocent people that use the internet in their daily lives. Regardless of how you perceive trolling, it’s a phenomena that has been around for decades and continues to dominate the online realm with harmful content. Troll Inc. is a documentary by George Russell that looks at one of the most prolific trollers of all time, Andrew Auernheimer, and how he influenced the world of trolling and is fighting an on-going battle to stop trollers from being prosecuted by the government and other corporate agencies.
Trolling online initially started as something that was done by keyboard warriors; pathetic and bored people sat behind the safety of their screens and desktops with opinions that no-one really wanted to hear. They are known as the people who write idiotic comments on YouTube videos, call women derogatory names on their personal images, and have gone as far as bullying young and vulnerable people into committing suicide. Sounds awful, doesn’t it? Fortunately not all trolls are obsessed with this kind of behaviour, and are dedicated to using their abusive influence for what they believe is the greater good, which is exactly what Auernheimer believed he is doing. Auernheimer believes that he is taking a stance against political correctness, the mass media and the American corporations, but what may be found as deliberately hilarious by himself and many of his lackeys, actually comes across as being overtly offensive, racist, facist and controversial purely to gain a name for himself and keep his dedicated followers intact.
Troll Inc. presents us with an in-depth interview with Auernheimer himself and many of his friends, who are fully supportive of his trolling pastimes. We’re also presented with others in various industries who do not support his tactics and believe that he is committing some of worst crimes against culture, religion, corporations and also our personal privacy. Even though watching this documentary provides an interesting and provocative insight into the way that his mind works, and how he has convinced others to think the same way, it feels difficult to watch at time as it seems that we should not be giving this man yet another platform to inflate his ego and also debate that his hacking is a form of freedom of speech, rather than being incredibly offensive to many people.
The documentary explores the theme of free speech that Auernheimer strongly stands for, however it seems that sometimes free speech is censored for certain reasons; ones that protect innocent people from feeling hurt or offended. Troll Inc. exists as another manner of free speech and provides the curious audience with a two-sided debate around trolling and whether or not Auernheimer is right in his actions and everyone else is just easily “butthurt” or whether he truly is a malicious troll with nothing better to do in his life than create so-called hilarious memes about very sensitive topics.