Now hiding out in Lebanon for fear of extradition, Auernheimer has defended his trolling, telling the Telegraph that it is just a form of ideological dialogue: "Trolling is just being confrontational with rhetoric. Zeno of Elea or Giordano Bruno were definitely huge trolls. All I’m doing is telling the truth basically."

Andrew Auernheimer, aka Weev

Auernheimer, now 30, was previously a member of the hacker group known as Goatse Security that gained notoriety in 2010 for exposing a security flaw in US mobile network ATT that allowed the email addresses of 114,000 iPad users to be revealed.

He is also a vocal white nationalist. In an article for neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer in October 2014, he described himself as "a long-time critic of Judaism, black culture, immigration to Western nations, and the media’s constant stream of anti-white propaganda."

Auernheimer uses a variety of online forums to espouse his political views. Earlier this year he paid for a promoted tweet to appear in the Twitter feeds of women and ethnic minorities, asserting that white people should "defend themselves from violence and discrimination."

Twitter removed Auernheimer's tweet following complaints about "white supremacist" content. A spokesman for the company said that the tweet had violated the service's policy on hate content, sensitive topics and violence.

The thing I missed most in prison was Twitter. Seriously.

— Andrew Auernheimer (@rabite)
April 12, 2014

Auernheimer said that, because his political views are not recognised within "the normal mediums of politics", trolling is the only way he can express them. His aim is to provoke outraged reactions that make left-wing mainstream society appear "ridiculous".

"The more extreme and infantile we make the left look, the more sensible the far right movements appear to the average person," he said.

Auernheimer is not the only internet troll to use "free speech" as justification for his behaviour.

Ultra-libertarian political blogger Robert Ambridge, better known by his Twitter alter ego, Old Holborn, was named “Britain's vilest troll” by the Daily Mail in 2013, after he posted sick jokes about the 96 Liverpool fans killed at Hillsborough, and the murder of Jamie Bulger.

The avatar on Robert Ambridge's Twitter profile page  Photo: Andy Bolton

"As a satirist that's what I do – I use the dark humour within us all to drive home my message quickly and simply, and Twitter provides the perfect medium to do so,” he said in an interview with The Telegraph in February.

“I don’t care if people are offended by what I say. I’m a passionate believer in free speech – offence is taken, it's a choice. I have no more idea of what offends you than I do of what offends an Amazonian Indian."

According to psychotherapist Dr Aaron Balick, author of The Psychodynamics of Social Networking, there is a valid argument that calling people trolls when they are expressing unpopular opinions is a way to shut down dialogue around a given topic.

"Trolling is about an intentional motivation to hurt or upset people, or to cause trouble. To paint those with minority opinions as trolls in order to maintain the status quo does indeed shut down the potential for dialogue," he said.

On the other hand, he added that trolling is not a very productive way to raise serious issues, because if people are seen to be trolling they simply won’t be taken seriously.

Convictions for crimes under laws used to prosecute internet trolls have increased ten-fold in a decade, reaching five a day in 2014, according to figures released by the Ministry of Justice in May.

Last year, 1,209 people were found guilty of offences under Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003, with a further 694 convicted under the Malicious Communications Act, which states that it is an offence to send a threatening, offensive or indecent letter, electronic communication or article with the intent to cause distress or anxiety.

Cyber-psychologist Professor Mary Aiken, who heads the CyberPsychology Research Centre at Dublin's Royal College of Surgeons, studies the behaviour of trolls and criminals on the internet.