A long time ago, I was told "don't feed the trolls". It's hard to see how this publicity (e.g. the NYT) is not feeding the trolls. There is no doubt that this campaign, whatever motivations, was successful. At the same time, social media platforms are more at the ready to ban pranksters, bots, etc. That might be the only approach that works when the majority of society participates.
(1) don't feed the troll, but it grows despite most people trying to ignore it.
(2) ban the troll, and give them the NYT press they wanted in the first place
(1) don't feed the troll, but it grows despite most people trying to ignore it. (2) ban the troll, and give them the NYT press they wanted in the first place
Not a lot of good options here.