Saturday, July 21, 2018: 10:00 pm (Vaughan): Trolls are attention hackers, using social and technical means to bait journalists, set agendas, game media gatekeepers, and direct audiences. This panel of members of the media manipulation team at Data & Society will consider the relationship between trolling and hacking, free speech, and the implications for our media/attention landscape. Matt will focus on hackers who have used trolling techniques to disclose vulnerabilities and elicit public pressure. Joan will talk about source hacking techniques, a tactic where groups coordinate to feed false information to journalists and experts, often during times of crisis. Jeanna will discuss the relationship between free speech, amplification of speech through platform and media manipulation, and the implication of possible interventions. The floor will be open to comments, questions, and a discussion which hopefully will continue beyond the session itself.

Matt Goerzen, Joan Donovan, Jeanna Matthews