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“Bots” — automated social media accounts which pose as real people — have a huge presence on platforms
such as Twitter. They number in the millions; individual networks can number half a million linked accounts.
These bots can seriously distort debate, especially when they work together. They can be used to make a
phrase or hashtag trend, as @DFRLab has illustrated here; they can be used to amplify or attack a message
or article; they can be used to harass other users.
At the same time, many bots and botnets are relatively easy to spot by eyeball, without access to specialized
software or commercial analytical tools. This article sets out a dozen of the clues, which we have found most useful
in exposing fake accounts.
Wait, what are Political Propaganda Bots in the first place? Political propaganda bots are semi-automated
or automated accounts on Twitter who identify themselves as real humans and endorse politically polarizing
content. They often retweet other content instead of tweeting their own content. We have seen cases where
these accounts are re-tweeting falsified information. We further discuss these propaganda bots and explain
our process of finding these accounts here.
At Robhat Labs, we have created an algorithm that helps identify these political propaganda bots. Using this
classifier, we were able to monitor the activity of these accounts and find some interesting patterns in how
they behave and interact with the rest of the Twitter community. In addition to explaining some of our findings
in this post, we have launched botcheck.me and a chrome extension, tools created to help you track and detect
these political bots.
Bots on Twitter are semi-automated or automated programs that use the normal functions of Twitter, such as tweeting, re-tweeting, and posting content. Unlike other social media websites such as LinkedIn, Twitter allows the use of bots on their platform. For example, there is a bot on Twitter that tweeted every word in the English language and completed the task back in 2014. There are third-party applications that help you get set up with a bot yourself, and Twitter’s API allows for automated posts. For the most part, the bots are harmless and publicly reveal themselves as bots.
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"Fatties Gonna Fat.”
That’s the first message I ever received from an internet troll. I had two immediate thoughts: What does this even mean,
and who has enough free time to send this kind of nonsense to strangers?
Now, over six years later, I’ve become an expert in online harassment the hard way. There are forums devoted specifically
to hating me, and the largest has over 4,000 members. Websites exist with the sole purpose of ruining my reputation, and
there are coordinated efforts to convince people to cancel bookings and abandon partnerships with me. Map routes from my
home to the places I work out have been published online, along with my home address and telephone number. Trolls have shown
up at events I attend, including at speaking engagements and triathlons. They’ve taken pictures and videos and harassed me,
the event organizers, and other participants. Once they even tripped the fire alarm during a speaking gig.
A researcher and a psychologist at the University of Cambridge have created a game that will teach you
to detect fake news by implementing the inoculation theory.
The rapid and insidious spread of “fake news” and online misinformation is proving to be a growing threat
to the democratic process and can have hugely detrimental effects on evidence-based decision-making on a
whole hoard of societal issues. From climate change to vaccination to politics — these are all areas where
accurate public information is imperative but have been touched by the misleading finger of fake-news.
