Donald Trump is no better than a troll and cyber bully, Aussie expert says, and his actions are dangerous
DONALD Trump is no better than a dangerous Twitter troll, a local expert says, and he should model himself on a certain social-loving Aussie pollie.
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DONALD Trump has been labelled a Twitter troll and cyber bully by an Australian digital expert, who warns the president’s conduct could have dangerous consequences.
The American leader has come under repeated fire for his social media posts, before and after taking office, which have included vicious personal attacks and bizarre claims.
Even fellow Republicans have labelled Trump’s behaviour unpresidential.
Megan Del Borrello, a social media expert who runs the agency Gloss Marketing, described the billionaire former businessman’s presence online as “terrible”.
“If you look at the definition of a troll or cyber bully, Trump fits that perfectly,” Del Borrello said.
“A troll is an online bully who attacks others, uses derogatory remarks or who uses personal insults. They also don’t care who they offend. I think Trump ticks most of those boxes. It’s just unbelievable.”
And she said Trump could learn a thing or two from Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.
Del Borrello points to Ms Bishop as a shining example of Twitter best practice for politicians, praising the globetrotting MP for her wit, relatability and resistance of relentless “haters”.
By contrast, Del Borrello said he Trump his social dominance — he boasts more than 33 million followers on Twitter — for good and have a positive impact on the world.
“He needs to start using it like the most powerful person in the world should use social media and less how a bully would,” she said.
“Impressionable kids might see his behaviour and think it’s acceptable. When you’re in the public eye, you have a responsibility to act in a certain way. The way Trump is acting is having a negative effect on people.
“People who’ve been bullied before, seeing someone so prominent repeat those behaviours can be very hurtful. In essence, it says it’s OK to act like that.”
Of extra concern is what the president’s tactics on Twitter say about him as a person, Del Borrello said.
“He seems to be getting worse and worse,” she said. “Worse, he’s condemned for it and he doesn’t seem to care.”
Australian researchers at Federation University’s School of Health Science and Psychology sought out to discover what makes trolls tick.
What they concluded is that the worst online antagonists have a keen sense of what’s likely to have maximum emotional impact on their victims — and they’re unlikely to feel any remorse about the damage they do.
The staggering report by the Australian social scientists, to be published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, also found Twitter trolls were more likely to display sadistic tendencies.
“Creating mayhem online is a central motivator to troll,” the report said.
Identified trolls in the study scored higher than average on two personality traits — psychopathy and cognitive empathy.
But don’t be fooled by the world ‘empathy’ — in this case, the finely tuned emotional recognition is used for digital evil.
“Results indicate then when high on trait psychopathy, trolls employ a strategy of predicting and recognising the emotional suffering of their victims, while abstaining from the experiences of these negative emotions,” researchers wrote.
Put simply, they know how to inflict the most damage, they don’t care about the consequences of their behaviour and they even get off on seeing people suffer.
British musician Ed Sheeran revealed yesterday that he has quit Twitter, saying he was sick of an overwhelming stream of abuse.
While his profile is still active, the megastar doesn’t use it, telling The Sun that the social networking website is “nothing but people saying mean things”.
“One comment ruins your day,” he said. “The headf*** for me has been trying to work out why people dislike me so much.”
He’s hardly the first. Girls creator and star Lena Dunham said Twitter wasn’t “a safe space” for her while Ghostbusters actress and comedian Leslie Jones copped a torrent of racial abuse.
The impact of trolling is well documented, with psychologists warning about the need for greater awareness and intervention efforts.
Twitter is working to crack down on misuse of its service but progress has been slow, critics say.
Australian model and television presenter Charlotte Dawson took her own life in 2014 after a long-running battle with online trolls.
It prompted a raft of campaigns to tackle the worsening problem — initiatives that are being undermined by the actions of Trump, Del Borrello said.
“I definitely think he’s stopping progress. You’ve got someone in the public eye acting exactly the way people are encouraged not to act.”
The president could take a few pages out of popular Tweeter Julie Bishop’s book, she said.
Great opportunities for 🇦🇺businesses in 🇵🇦 #Panama #regionalhub #LatinAmerica met with Ministers @LMHincapie @GrimaldoManuel @EmilioSempris pic.twitter.com/ZCExiadz4N
— Julie Bishop (@JulieBishopMP) June 29, 2017
“Julie Bishop is humorous, she uses the platform to promote her portfolio — foreign interests, Australia’s place in the world — and as a result Twitter humanises her.
“She gets a lot of hate from trolls but she doesn’t retaliate like Trump. He should do the same.”
Trump’s wife Melania vowed to tackle cyber bullying in her capacity as First Lady — a commitment that now seems ironic.
“Cyber bullying is a really big issue and oddly one that his administration was trying to address,” Del Borrello said. “It doesn’t seem to be working very well.”
The ways in which trolling tendencies manifest themselves can be downright disturbing.
A reporter from the New Statesman tracked down a troll who pretended to be the concerned loved one of a man battling cancer missing in the wake of the Manchester Arena terror attack.
“Please help find Abdul,” the woman named Sam wrote. “He has chemo (sic) and we’re very worried. We last heard from him before Ariana’s concert.”
The supposed missing man didn’t exist. The photo used belonged to a random American who now lives in Egypt.
When asked why she faked a connection to such a tragic event, she replied: “Entertainment.”
In Trump’s case, he runs the risk of further trashing his person and professional brand — or what remains of it — and impacting America’s reputation, Del Borrello said.
“Trump should start using Twitter to show people what he’s doing as president because I don’t think anyone is entirely sure. It seems like his full time job is being on Twitter.”
Originally published as Donald Trump is no better than a troll and cyber bully, Aussie expert says, and his actions are dangerous
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