New Study: At Least 15% of All Reddit Content is Corporate Trolls Trying to Manipulate Public Opinion

fossilesque@mander.xyz to Reddit@lemmy.world – 1279 points –
New Study: At Least 15% of All Reddit Content is Corporate Trolls Trying to Manipulate Public…
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The word "troll" just kinda doesn't mean much anymore, huh.

A troll is just someone who says something to provoke a (usually negative) response. They don't have any agenda other than to entertain themselves.

A dude going into a Fortnite community to post "Fortnite sucks ass" is a troll. A dude posting propaganda to sway opinions toward a political goal/shill a product is something else.

I suppose they're using the term troll to refer to a person engaging in behavior calculated to evoke a desired response while evading detection as doing such. It was actually used similarly in at least one academic paper back in the nineties: "Identity and deception in the virtual community", by Judith S. Donath.