Analysis anddetection oftrolls in the Twitter profile ofElPaís Spain

Abstract

Trolls are an increasingly present reality with which Internet users coexist. This study seeks to confirm whether trolls are a real threat in Spain and, more specifically, in the Twitter profile of the most widely read newspaper in the country: El País. Through the analysis of 767 tweets, the aim was to analyse the frequency with which trolls intervene in the profile of El País Spain, to characterise - in terms of gender and typology - the trolls who intervened in this Twitter account and to establish whether a relationship exists between the engagement ratio of publications and the number of comments from trolls. The results confirmed that trolls are highly present in the Twitter profile of El País Spain, with a greater prominence of anonymous trolls of the hater type. Moreover, engagement has a very strong positive correlation with the number of trolling comments, to the point that it is possible to predict this ratio using the number of trolling comments. The research provides valuable information that can be useful in both theory and practice due to its implications and innovative nature.