A Thought About Trolls on Social Media

The Inherent Flaw of Social Media: Elevating Trolls While Undermining True Expertise – A Few Thoughts About Social Media this Weekend!

Primary Category: Editorial and Commentary

Intended Audience: General Public / Others

Author:
•  Tim McGuinness, Ph.D. – Anthropologist, Scientist, Director of the Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc.

About This Article

Social media creates the illusion that all voices are equally informed, allowing misinformation, emotional reactions, and baseless opinions to spread as widely as expert insights. Because engagement is prioritized over credibility, the loudest and most provocative voices gain more attention than those with deep experience and knowledge. This environment enables trolls to thrive while drowning out experts who have dedicated years to mastering their fields. Without critical evaluation of sources, social media will continue to be flooded with misleading content, reducing its value as a platform for meaningful discourse and informed discussion.

The Inherent Flaw of Social Media: Elevating Trolls While Undermining True Expertise

A Few Thoughts About Social Media this Weekend!

Social media has an inherent flaw in that it not only allows people to seem equal but actively promotes trolls ahead of real experts.

This is why platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn are becoming increasingly irrelevant for many.

The very structure of social media creates a landscape where everyone has an equal platform to voice their opinions. However, this accessibility fosters a dangerous misconception—that all voices carry equal weight, regardless of knowledge, experience, or expertise. The result is an environment where misinformation, baseless opinions, and emotional reactions are elevated to the same status as well-researched, experience-backed insights.

This issue has always plagued social media, and it remains unchanged.

Because users can post freely without vetting or accountability, many assume their personal beliefs, experiences, and opinions are just as valid as those of individuals who have dedicated years—if not decades—to mastering a specific subject. This illusion of intellectual equality is deeply flawed. Expertise is not simply about holding an opinion; it is about the depth of understanding, rigorous training, and real-world application of knowledge that refines a person’s insights over time.

Social media exacerbates this problem by prioritizing engagement over credibility. Algorithms push forward content that sparks reactions, not necessarily content that is informed or valuable. This means that posts driven by outrage, controversy, or emotionally charged rhetoric are often given precedence over those that provide carefully considered, well-founded analysis. As a result, expertise takes a backseat to popularity, and the loudest, most provocative voices gain more attention than those offering thoughtful, nuanced perspectives.

Furthermore, the emphasis on content rather than credibility distorts the value of professional knowledge. Someone with no background in victim advocacy, fraud prevention, or psychology may feel just as entitled to comment on the experiences of scam victims as someone with 20,000 hours of specialized training in the field. Even when two people have similar educational backgrounds, their expertise is not necessarily interchangeable—someone with decades in fraud management does not automatically possess the same understanding of trauma recovery and victim support as someone immersed in victim advocacy. Yet, on social media, these distinctions are often blurred, creating a space where superficial commentary carries as much weight as deeply informed insights.

This dilution of expertise is why much of what is posted on social media is, in essence, noise—uninformed commentary that thrives on emotion rather than substance. The digital space promotes the illusion that all perspectives deserve equal consideration, but in reality, expertise matters. The ability to articulate a thought does not equate to authority on a subject, yet many fail to recognize this, giving unwarranted credibility to opinions that lack depth or experience.

This is precisely where trolls thrive.

They capitalize on this system, manipulating discussions, spreading misinformation, and sowing discord, often with little regard for truth or integrity.

Meanwhile, real experts—those who have spent years developing their knowledge—find themselves drowned out, dismissed, or even attacked for challenging false narratives.

Until people learn to evaluate the source as much as the statement itself, social media will continue to be overrun with half-truths, misinterpretations, and well-intended but misguided advice. The platforms that should have been spaces for meaningful discourse and learning have instead become battlegrounds for attention, where substance is secondary to spectacle.

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