During the Brexit negotiations, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson himself described his chaotic strategy as “creative ambiguity.” Former U.S. President Donald Trump is also well known for his contradictory statements. Maintaining a mode of expression filled with vagueness and hints—open to multiple interpretations and conjectures—is an increasingly common approach in psychological struggles.

Much like in homeopathy, where the more diluted a substance is, the more effective the remedy is claimed to be, in psychology the subtler and more veiled a hint or allusion is, the more powerful its impact can become. A person may be “bombarded” with all kinds of disparate hints and ambiguities, to the point of confusion and psychological strain. In such cases, logic, emotions, and imagination all step in to “fill in” the unclear picture.

Often, the way unclear notions are connected and interpreted reflects more about the individual’s own characteristics, attitudes, fears, and expectations than about what the source of the message actually intended. For example, if a person is fearful, they may interpret a vague statement as a threat. If they are hopeful, they may decide that their hope is about to be fulfilled. And so on. In this sense, the guesses about what the other party “really meant” can sometimes reveal more about the interpreter—their mindset and emotional state—than about the speaker.

Part of this technique is the use of metaphorical language. This form of expression is extremely widespread in online communication channels. Metaphors make it possible to say things that cannot—or should not—be said directly. This is nothing new in itself, except when it becomes part of systematic actions and strategies aimed at a specific target.

In online forums, exactly such strategies are often employed. Moreover, trolls frequently communicate with one another through this kind of “coded” language, making their exchanges incomprehensible to outsiders, even though the posts are public. More troubling, however, is that the same approach is also used to attack specific targeted individuals. Once such a person has been conditioned to recognize themselves in a certain type of metaphor, they become “hooked.” At that point, trolls—sometimes even while seemingly just talking among themselves—can issue metaphorical threats, insults, suggestions, provocations, and seeds of doubt or anxiety, knowing that the targeted individual is very likely reading everything.

With this kind of discourse, nothing is ever completely clear. There is always room for misrecognition and misinterpretation of metaphors, as well as a constant risk of finding hidden messages where none actually exist. This can push a person into a state of anxiety or neurosis once they are trapped in a world of allusions and suspicions. In this way, trolls can gain psychological superiority and a degree of control over the individual.