El trol de Internet. Estrategias de los usuarios para controlar el diálogo en los medios digitales durante el juicio de Francisco Camps

The Internet incorporates tools that allow users to participate and generate content. However, this participation is not always positive, as there is one kind of Internet user whose goal is to disrupt rational dialogue: the troll. This paper analyzes the comments of online media users in political scandal news. We have chosen for the analysis the trial of Francisco Camps in the so-called «suit- gate» case. The study compares the different types of users and shows the strategies used to control or interrupt the debate in the comment system. The findings suggest that the Internet can encourage uninhibited and antisocial behaviour in some users. It’s what Hardaker called «Gyges effect» (2013), an effect whose consequences are antagonistic and complementary to those of the «spiral of silence» (Noelle-Neumann, 1995).