Concern Trolling

Concern trolling is an offensive psychological tactic, which involves an outward display of seemingly well-intentioned concern. While a common trolling tactic, it has been effectively weaponized by astroturf groups and suicide-trolling operations.

Suicide trolls are well known to use concern trolling as a life ruination technique, in order to weaken an opponent. They do this by generally pretending to be a concerned friend or former friend. By using this feigned position of closeness to the target, they can sometimes effectively spread vicious rumors about the target. As suicide-trolling campaigns are generally designed to drive the target insane, they explain the target's instability as something they are worried about, in order to springboard these rumors.

This particular form of concern trolling has three main desired effects:

1. It shifts blame away from the abuser(s): By pretending to be a concerned friend, a convincing enough concern troll act will deflect suspicions away from those actually responsible.
2. To isolate them from their social support network: Concern trolls will oftentimes contact places of employment, friends, family members, partners, and more, as a form of triangulation. By spreading these types of rumors, they can ruin the target's image. This in turn may get people to exclude the target from social gatherings or important work duties, out of fear that the target's alleged instability may negatively affect their own lifes.
3. To abuse red-flag laws or get the target committed to a psych ward: This type of trolling is incredibly effective in places with poorly-regulated red-flag laws. By red-flagging a target, they can get the target disarmed and in a position where they cannot defend themselves from stalkers or violent attacks. Experienced concern trolls can even have people involuntarily committed by the state, where they may be forced to undergo unnecessary treatments or medications, which can saddle a target with lifelong mental health issues.

When combined with other suicide-trolling tactics, concern trolling can have a very lethal effect.