Billy Goats May Have Something to Teach Us About Trolls

Troll dolls were the Beanie Babies of the 1960s, as popular with adults as they were with children.

Source: Debbie Peterson

Remember when trolls were cute little dolls with orange hair, or the billy goat gruff antagonist? In the Scandinavian fairy tale "The Three Billy Goats Gruff,” three goats must cross a bridge guarded by a malevolent troll who threatens to eat them. The two smaller goats outsmart the troll by convincing him to wait to eat the bigger goat, knowing the biggest goat can defeat the troll.

Nowadays, trolls lurk online rather than under bridges. They amuse themselves by hijacking social media posts, creating conflict, and disrupting conversations. In some cases, they are hired to do so.

Troll Out of Control

The February 2025 arrest of a California social media consultant hired as an operative to discredit political opponents brought public attention to an extreme example of a troll out of control. The troll allegedly impersonated an individual he engaged online to make him appear to be a child molester. When the district attorney’s charges impacted the troll’s employment, the troll reportedly threatened to bomb local schools and to take the lives of the district attorney and his family.[1]

Who Would Do That?

Volkmer, Gaube, Raue, and Lermer studied 1,026 social media users to determine the state of trolling in the 2020s in their ominously titled review, “Troll story: The dark tetrad and online trolling revisited with a glance at humor.” They explain that trolls write messages that may be outwardly sincere but waste time through fruitless arguments.

Their troll review quotes a recent finding that those who use the kind of humor that enhances themselves while hurting or laughing at others are more likely to act as internet trolls. This type of aggressive humor is also a predictor of the verbal aggression used to divert online discussions with sarcasm and mockery.

The study confirms that digital trolls, like the fairy-tale troll that hides under a bridge, hide behind the anonymity of the internet because online they can behave malevolently with little fear of reprisal. The researchers find that trolls seek amusement and attention by aggressively provoking emotional responses to derail social media conversations. According to the Pew Research Center, trolls are more likely to target members of nondominant groups, such as women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ people.

The 2023 Nitschinsk, Tobin, and Vanman study, “A functionalist approach to online trolling,” finds that those with psychopathic or sadistic traits—the ability to behave cruelly toward others—are more likely to be trolls, with sadism being the prevalent troll motivation.

According to forensic psychiatrist Sohom Das, online trolls manipulate and exploit people whom they can goad into joining them in their cruel and demeaning behaviors. Das suggests that the character traits of extreme narcissism, mixed with grandiosity and egotism, manifest as a desire to assert power and dominance for pleasure.

Das points to behavioral and psychological processes that occur with trolling, outlining the "typical" character traits and motivation of a troll:

• Trolls instigate a pack mentality. Behind every bully are minions hanging around guffawing, jumping on the popularity bandwagon to attract attention, or because they fear being victimized if they do not join in.
• Trolls direct vitriol against the person rather than the argument or point the person is making, showing up as character assassination, an efficient way to derail the argument and cut an opponent down.
• Trolls dismiss an individual's credibility, saying that their target is not an expert in a field (even if they are) and are therefore unqualified to comment on anything vaguely related. Das notes the irony of the aggressor's comments on everything while calling the target unqualified to do so.

How to Troll-Bust

Experts' tips on how to keep trolls at bay can be summed up by the truism, “Don’t feed the trolls.” This means to walk on by without acknowledging trolls or paying attention to them because engaging them empowers them.

Das advises that disengaging electronically, physically, and geographically is the most effective action if targeted online. He suggests that people distressed by trolls can beat the bully when they:

1. Look after their emotional well-being when offline.
2. Engage in relaxing or enjoyable activities and hobbies as a distraction from troll trauma: Take a walk, meditate, or get together with loved ones.
3. Turn off electronics and change location from the physical location where the trolling is experienced.
4. Talk to a trusted friend about the comments and the feelings trolls trigger. Friends provide the perspective that the trolls’ opinions are insignificant.

Bullying Essential Reads

Overcoming Social Exclusion

Stop Picking on Me

Be a Blocker

The American Psychological Association, in its 2024 Trends Report, provides suggestions for those who witness troll attacks, citing Cornell University psychologist Gordon Pennycook.

If trolls are pushing your emotional buttons, put on your billy goat chaps and outsmart the troll by pushing back using available digital buttons to mute, block, and report trolls, online abuse, and hate speech. Trolls often add people to lists for easy targeting by other online harassers. If there is a flurry of negative attention, search for and exit online lists that seem suspicious.

Pennycook observes that targeting someone online is harder if people collectively speak up: “If only a few people are standing up, it’s easy to knock them down. If in a secure position, consider speaking up when someone is harassed for fighting back against misinformation.”

Finally, Pennycook suggests, “Let it pass. The interest usually dies down after a few days, and life moves on. Typically, after a flood of attention, it stops. Hunker down for a week and go back to normal.”