Outrage for cash: India Today exposes paid social media trolls

An India Today investigation revealed the shocking truth about trolling on social media.

Not only can one create outrage by paying social media influencers (people with a lot of reach online) but can also manufacture political consent.

During the investigation, a journalist posed as a consultant for a fictitious political party who went around speaking to Delhi's young IT consultants. The results showed that these "consultants" can orchestrate malice and religious polarisation in the virtual world for just enough money.

Also read: Two years of Modi trolls, India's ugly face of intolerance

Morals and responsibility are an afterthought in their world.

These people use mechanisms like morphing pictures, creating fake videos, etc to tarnish people's standing online, all as a part of ORM i.e. Online Reputation Management, all done through proxy servers so no one can locate them.

Also read: How trolls waging social media Mahabharat changed us in 2015

These stunning revelations come after BJP MP Maneka Gandhi recently spoke against online trolling of women, which hilariously, miffed a lot of BJP supporters online.

Why they automatically assumed they were whom she was referring to when speaking about trolls who abuse women online is anyone's guess.