ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on discourses surrounding tools to combat trolling and harassment on Twitter, drawing on and extending previous work on discursive tactics against harassment in feminist blogs and on the use of screenshots in response to harassment on dating apps and sites. It is primarily concerned with the informal and ad hocstrategies used by participants in particular platforms and discussions to deter or respond to trolling and harassment. The chapter also focuses on a case study of an alternative mode of response – the block list, and the arguments mobilized around the tools, both for and against. It explores the context of broader research by the author on constructions of speech, political responsibility, listening and safety in digital spaces. The chapter contributes to research examining ad hocstrategies that are developed to handle harassment and trolling in digital spaces, and considers these strategies as in themselves activism and as responses to particular workings of power and governance in digital spaces.
