What Is a YouTube Troll?

Internet trolls deliberately cause offense and distress.

YouTube is an Internet video sharing site. Founded in 2005, it allows users to upload and share videos online. A troll is someone who makes inflammatory comments on the Internet to generate anger or distress, generally for attention's sake, an activity known as "trolling." YouTube comments are a favorite haunt of Internet trolls. Trolls may even produce videos with the main or sole aim of causing outrage and thus attracting attention.

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YouTube
- YouTube is a user-driven video sharing site where anyone can upload and distribute videos. You can find everything from home movies to rock videos to cartoons. Some television channels distribute content via YouTube. YouTube's terms of use prohibit uploading copyrighted or offensive material. Serious breaches of YouTube's terms of service can result in a user's account being closed; accounts are free, however, meaning that banned users can simply re-register under a different name.
Trolls and Trolling
- Trolling takes its name from the act of trailing a baited line through water in the hopes of catching fish. In the case of Internet trolling, the bait is a deliberately irritating, inflammatory or offensive comment designed to provoke a response. A troll is the name for a person who engages in trolling. Trolling can involve relatively innocuous conduct, such as making scientifically inaccurate posts to a community interested in science. It can also be designed to cause deep distress, as when racist or homophobic material is posted. Trolling can also be a form of activism, as when trolls disrupt the activity of white-supremacist or other hate groups.
Comment Trolls
- YouTube allows other users to comment on videos. This comment system is sometimes abused by trolls to create ill-feeling and drama. Videos dealing with specific causes, such as disaster relief, may attract negative comments from those who believe (or affect to believe) that the cause not important or is unworthy of support. User-created creative content may attract aggressive criticism. Comments can be deleted; they can also be voted down by other YouTube users. Comments can also be turned off.
Troll Videos
- Videos can be created to generate ill-feeling and drama. One example would be the video made by YouTube user Tamtampamela in the wake of the deadly Japanese earthquake of 2011. Tamtampamela posed as a right-wing Christian fundamentalist, celebrating the earthquake as the work of God. YouTube trolls may also work in groups; a concerted attack by organized trolls in 2009 flooded YouTube with pornographic material, often disguised as children's television.