The Online Targeting of Journalists with Anti-Semitic Intimidation
Brittan Heller
SUMMARY
Brittan Heller argues that an examination of online anti-Semitic attacks of journalists on Twitter, leading up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election, was one of the first indicators of the deliberate targeting of minority groups on social media. Examining this incident, with the benefit of hindsight, provides insights into the nature, purpose, and intended impact of online troll storms, including: professionalized trolling, enmity toward the professional press, “useful idiot”-based virality, and bridging online conduct and offline harms. Heller asserts that the incident should be instructive to decision-makers who aim to stem the tide of real-world violence, showing us what we can learn from the systematic online targeting of minority populations.
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