Star Wars: Ph. D. Study Suggests That Most Of The Last Jedi’s Trolls Were Bots

Subverting fan expectations, Star Wars: The Last Jedi became one of the most controversial and divisive films in the Star Wars franchise. While the film did have quite a number of fans, it also found itself at the hands of angry trolls, most of which would direct their frustrations harassing and insulting the cast and crew of The Force Awakens sequel.

Now, a new study reveals that a significant portion of these trolls might actually be internet bots, automated programs that try to create a rift in the Star Wars fanbase.

According to Research Gate, UCLA Ph.D. candidate Morten Bay just recently shared the abstract of his study, Weaponizing the haters: The Last Jedi and the strategic politicization of pop culture through media manipulation.

Studying the polarizing phenomenon surrounding The Last Jedi, the abstract of the paper reads:

"while it is only a minority of Twitter accounts that tweet negatively about The Last Jedi, organized attempts at politicizing the pop culture discourse on social media for strategic purposes are significant enough that users should be made aware of these measures, so they can act accordingly."

Though fans are curious how Morten Bay came to the conclusion that a majority of the Star Wars trolls online are actually bots, it seems like the Ph.D. student's paper has yet to be published, so it remains to be seen what methods he used for his study.

What we do know, however, is that there's certainly been a lot of contention surrounding The Last Jedi, with some fans taking it too far – far enough to actually harass the film's cast and crew online. We can't wait to read and learn from Morten's paper once it comes out.

Star Wars: Episode IX hits cinemas December 20, 2019.

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