troll armies
Organized online antagonists
Troll armies are coordinated groups of online accounts—often state-sponsored or politically motivated—that flood social media and comment sections with disinformation, propaganda, or harassment.
The term evokes both internet trolls and military organization, suggesting systematic deployment rather than random mischief: Russian troll armies targeted the 2016 election.
Members may be paid operatives or ideological volunteers working from scripts.
- manipulationUnderhanded control of others
- coercionPressured compliance through threats
- astroturfingDisguised sponsored advocacy
- bot farmsNetworks of automated accounts
- gaslightingManipulation causing self-doubt
deception · intimidation · brigading · subversion · subterfuge · echo chambers · keyboard warriors · comment sections · state actors · command hierarchy · machination · duplicity · cyberbullying · harassments · chicanery · sockpuppeting · skullduggery · narrative control
- Online Activismhashtag activism, online petitions, social media activism, clicktivism, slacktivism