Talking without Speaking: Paid Trolls on Social Media and Court Decision

Abstract:

With the massive growth of social media and other informational platforms that businesses and individuals may use to share their opinions, a society’s perspectives of certain contentious issues may be influenced significantly. At the same time, it has been noted that various parties have used paid trolls (i.e., fake comments made by bot accounts) to sway public opinions concerning some hotly debated issues or legal proceedings. This article aims to investigate how public opinions and paid trolls may affect the outcome of legal disputes between opposing parties. Our research indicates that firms involved in lawsuits with social media engagement may purchase paid trolls to influence public opinions, and they do so more significantly when the truth does not match the prior expectation of the public. We also discover that social media users’ sophistication may be a pitfall for the involved parties, including the competing firms and the judge who is adjudicating the case. Additionally, the court may be either constrained or aided to identify the truth by having a tendency to render decisions that align with prevailing public opinions, depending on the stake of the lawsuit.

Speaker's bio: 

Haitao (Tony) Cui, Deputy Associate Dean for Global DBA Program, Ecolab-Pierson M. Grieve Chair in International Marketing, Professor of Marketing at the Carlson School, Inaugural Marketing Science Institute (MSI) Scholar, joined the faculty of the Carlson School of Management in 2005 after earning his Ph.D. in Managerial Science and Applied Economics from the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania. Cui also holds secondary appointment of professor at the Department of Industrial & System Engineering, College of Science & Engineering, UMN.  Cui teaches Ph.D., DBA, EMBA, MBA, and EDP courses at Carlson.

His research areas include behavioral modeling in marketing, branding, competitive strategies, distribution channels, marketing-operations interfaces, and pricing. He serves as Departmental Editor at Production and Operations Management, Guest Associate Editor at Management Science, and on the editorial board of Journal of Operations Management. He was the Vice President of the POMS College of Behavioral Operations from 2017 to 2019, and is serving as the Chair of the Academic Committee of the Behavioral Operations Research and Management Chapter of Operations Research Society of China. He is an ad hoc reviewer for journals of: Decision Sciences, European Journal of Operations Research, Information Systems Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Operations Management, Journal of Retailing, Management Science, Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, Marketing Science, Operations Research, Production & Operations Management, Quantitative Marketing & Economics, Review of Marketing Research, etc.

Cui was selected as the AMA-Sheth Doctoral Consortium Fellow in 2004, and was nominated the Marketing Science Institute (MSI) Young Scholars in 2011 whose work suggests they are "potential leaders for the next generation of marketing academics", the Chang Jiang Scholars by Ministry of Education of China in 2016, and the Inaugural Marketing Science Institute (MSI) Scholars in 2018 for "top scholars helping to set the research agenda for the field".  He received the Management Science Meritorious Service Award from 2009 until 2019 (Distinguished Service Award in 2014 and 2017) and the 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award in years of 2007-2010.  He was voted by Carlson CHEMBA EMBA students as the "Popular Professor of the Year" in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2023, and was awarded the "Carlson Outstanding Research Award" in 2017. In 2019, he was awarded for "Outstanding Teaching and Dedication to Helping Students Learn" by Center for Educational Innovation, University of Minnesota. In 2020, he was awarded for "Carlson School Teaching Award". In both 2023 and 2024, he was awarded for "Carlson DBA Teaching Award".