#kyrre lien

The Internet Warriors by Kyrre Lien

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The Internet Warriors (Lien, 2017)

Why do so many people use the internet to harass and threaten people, and stretch the freedom of speech to its limits? Director Kyrre Lien meets a global group of strongly opinionated individuals, who spend their time debating online on the subjects they care most strongly about. Online platforms are their favourite tools to express the opinions that others might find objectionable in language that often offends. Do they behave in the same way when they come offline?

No, not the supernatural creature of Scandinavian folklore. Not the tall and brutish mythical humanoid creature said to possess great regenerative powers. The ones who, usually anonymously, sit behind a digital screen and post deliberately provocative messages or posts on online platforms with the goal of causing maximum disruption and disturbance. Online trolls and the supernatural type both share the same goals, their actions are generally thought to be originated from evil and malevolent intents. Whilst the supernatural type feast on human flesh, online trolls feast on human disturbance and commotion.

The association between the use of the Internet and a negative social impact has been documented for some time. A 1998 study by researchers from Carnegie Mellon University found that increased use of the Internet was associated with statistically significant declines in social involvement and increases in loneliness.

According to Pew Research Centre, more than a third of us participate in online debates and 41% of people have been personally subjected to harassment online. Norway born documentarist photographer and film maker Kyrre Lien was intrigued by the world and motives of ‘internet trolls’ and has since spent the last three years meeting and interviewing some of the most strongly opinionated and active ‘internet trolls’ across the globe – some including trump supporters, racists, misogynists, socialists and homophobes etc.  

From the fields of Norway, to the U.S desert and an apartment in Lebanon, Lien finds those who spend their time debating online on the subjects they care most strongly about. He delves deep into the unanswered questions for why some have the need to express their anger online, and why so many of them choose to harass and threaten people whilst stretching the freedom of speech to its limits. 

Lien’s project ‘Meet The Internet Warriors’ allows viewers to meet the ‘warriors’ in their own cave – photographing them in their ‘safe space’, most being that at home in front of the computer in order to prove they don’t behave in the same way when offline.