Flashback 2016: Twitter, troll and outrage

Several eminent personalities became victims of social media trolls in 2016. Here is a round up of issues and people that caused outrage on social media.

Social media outrage is not new to India and 2016 saw its fair share of trolls and indignation. From politicians to film stars to sports personalities, none were able to escape the social media's ever-present eye. Some were trolled for making statements, others for perceived inaction and others still were found guilty by association with ideas that were debatable. Here is a round up of issues and people that caused outrage on social media.

Fawad Khan: After terror attacks on the Indian army, massive outrage was expressed against actors and filmmakers from Pakistan working in Indian films. Fawad Khan, who starred in Karan Johar's Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, received the lion's share of the backlash for refusing to condemn Pakistan sponsored attacks on the Indian Army. The social media outrage forced Johar to take to Twitter to explain why his film needed to be released. The issue was also raked up for Shah Rukh Khan's Raees which stars Pakistani actress Mahira Khan.

Saina Nehwal: A mobile phone that Saina Nehwal endorsed created unnecessary outrage on social networking sites. Saina posted a picture of her new phone and the trolling began shortly after. While some took offence to the Chinese make of the phone, others went to the extent of calling her anti-national. Earlier this year, Saina was trolled after P V Sindhu's Olympic Silver win.

Mohammed Shami: Mohammed Shami showed who is boss after he shut trolls outraging over his wife's 'un-Islamic' dress. The cricketer had posted pictures of an event with his wife in a gown. Moral police on the social media worked up a controversy over the sleeveless gown. Shami took to the same social media to shut trolls up.

Taimur Ali Khan: Social media outrage spares none and a day old Taimur Ali Khan became the youngest person ever to be trolled. Netizens started outraging over Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan's one day old son's name. While many took offense to Taimur being the name of a 'barbarian', others supported the couple's right to name their child. The outrage seemed to make no difference to the couple.

Anushka Sharma: Weird are the ways of social media trolls who blamed Anushka Sharma for drop in Virat Kohli's on-field performance. Supposed fans of Kohli held Anushka responsible for him performing badly. While Anushka maintained a dignified silence, Virat Kohli took to his social media page to slam the trolls and shame them.

Fardeen Khan: The actor was attacked for his weight with social media trolls body shaming the actor for the extra pounds he had gained after a recent photo of his surfaced. Unwarranted outrage was expressed over an issue that was completely personal to Fardeen Khan. The actor took to his social media page to hit back at the trolls and the unnecessary outrage.

Salman Khan: Controversy follows Salman Khan like a shadow. In 2016, the actor was in the eye of the storm after he said that he "felt like a raped woman at the end of strenuous film shooting," whilst speaking about his movie Sultan. Salman's father was forced to apologise on his behalf. However, the remark still brought forth palpable social media outrage with the NCW urging the actor to apologise.

Sunny Leone: Not much fazes Sunny Leone; this much she proved in 2016 during an interview with journalist Bhupendra Chaubey. Some of the questions asked to her were: "There are lots of married women who look at Sunny Leone as a threat to their husbands, do you not care about all this? A member of parliament, in his speeches, has held you responsible for corrupting Indian morality. How do you deal with that?" She was even asked: "If Sunny Leone is becoming brand ambassador of New India, is that a dangerous trend to have?" The interview faced considerable flak on the social media with the twitterati coming out to support Leone. Many celebrities, including Aamir Khan, came to her support and lauded her for handling the interview the way she did.

Priyanka Chopra: Priyanka Chopra's cover photo on Conde Nast Traveller led to outrage over perceived insensitivity towards refugees and immigrants. Chopra was featured on the cover of a magazine wearing a white t-shirt with the words, 'refugee', 'immigrant' and 'outsider' crossed while the word 'traveller' was not crossed out. Social justice warriors called the message intolerant and insensitive and Chopra apologised later saying that the message was misconstrued.

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