Is ‘Trolling’ a Democratic Act? Rethinking Incivility in Online Political Discussion Groups

The literature on digital participation tends to prize civility amongst participants. This is held to have a number of democratic benefits, engendering more open participatory spaces and encouraging the development of a tolerant public sphere. Where this is not the case, the scholarly view of online participation is largely negative, and dark warnings are put forward over the dangers of a degraded form of democracy brought on by the anonymity allowed by many online interactions. In this paper I argue that this need not be the case. In fact, ‘uncivil’ behaviour has actually held an important role in democratic life throughout the history of democracy. Indeed, a clearer understanding of the benefits of ‘trolling’ might reveal some of the most promising avenues for the development of digital democracy. Accordingly, the paper identifies five ways in which ‘uncivil’ behaviour might be beneficial, illustrating each with examples drawn from online political discussion groups before connecting this to the wider development of online platforms aimed at facilitating political discussion.