Information and technological features of communication in social networks have expanded the possibilities and the extent of the potential influence of trolling as a verbal and psychological strategy of aggressive influence. The reasons for the large-scale spread of trolling in social networks are the anonymous nature and the possibility of false identity of network communication, as well as the emergence of special automated programs (bots) that allow the spread of trolling content with unprecedented speed. At the same time, online trolling is taking over more and more thematic areas of the media sphere. In the COVID-19 situation in particular, trolling extended influence by taking advantage of crisis uncertainty, when large groups of people showed a tendency to challenge the official point of view, to COVID dissidence, to protest movements.