The Age of Hostility: Investigating Internet Trolling

‘Don’t feed the trolls’ – it’s the conventional wisdom of the internet. But who are the trolls? What motivates them? And, beyond ignoring them, how do we limit the destruction they wreak on people’s lives?
These are the questions Ginger Gorman started asking after she herself became the target of an online hate campaign. In 2013, the investigative journalist received hateful and abusive messages, including a death threat, in response to a story she broadcast on the ABC. This harrowing experience led her to a five-year investigation of the nature and impact of trolling itself, including interviews with psychologists, police, trolling victims and, perhaps most importantly, trolls themselves. She learned about highly organised global trolling syndicates, the economic cost of internet hate campaigns, and the failure of the legal system to hold trolls accountable.
In conversation with Jamila Rizvi, Gorman will discuss anonymity, misogyny and the psychology of cyber-sabotage.
This event will be Auslan interpreted.
Metropolis will be our bookseller for this event.
Featuring
Featuring

Ginger Gorman is an award-winning social justice journalist based in Canberra, Australia. In 2013, Ginger and her family suffered the effects of online hate first-hand, and it was this experience that set Ginger on her professional journey into the world of trolls. In 2017, her series of articles o... Read more

Jamila Rizvi is a diversity, equity and inclusion expert, best-selling author, and sought-after public speaker. She is Deputy Managing Director of Future Women, an organisation that helps women who face barriers to employment return to work and advises employers on gender equality. Jamila is an aut... Read more
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