Over the past decade, social media has brought about a revolution in the public arena. In Quebec alone, five million people have a Facebook page. If social media platforms have democratised speech, they’ve also proven to be fertile breeding grounds for insults and the foulest ideas. Abject misogyny, calls for deportation or suicide, death threats… Anyone using social websites knows how toxic the 2.0 climate can be, with trolls trolling to their heart’s content. Are Quebeckers more unhinged than others online? How far should freedom of speech really go, and with total impunity? The police and the court system are still fumbling in the dark. Troller les trolls (“Trolling the Trolls”) is a revealing look at those citizens on the other side of the screen.
Pénélope McQuade
