Introduction
The ability to share information in real time and without editorial oversight on social media has expanded opportunities for participation, but has also created new avenues for manipulating online debate. Among the most significant tools are social bots, automated accounts managed by algorithmic software that mimic human behaviour. These programmes can post content, comment on discussions, share links and interact with other users, operating in a manner similar to real people.
Their main function is to manipulate the visibility and popularity of content, giving the impression that certain opinions are widely held. In 2016, around 400,000 social media bots were active in political discussions on social media, generating 3.8 million tweets and helping to influence the US presidential election.
AUTOMATED
BEHAVIOR
BEHAVIOR
Highly regular and repetitive activity patterns that suggest the presence of programmed systems.
ARTIFICIAL
AMPLIFICATION
AMPLIFICATION
Coordinated inflation of likes, shares, and interactions designed to simulate organic popularity.
CONVERSATION
MANIPULATION
MANIPULATION
Strategic interventions in online discussions aimed at steering the tone and direction of public debate.
Accounts with recurring transactions
Accounts managed by social bots often display highly regular and repetitive patterns of activity. They may post content very frequently, continuously and at regular intervals, sometimes even during times of day that are unlikely for human users.
This type of activity suggests the presence of automated systems designed to amplify specific messages.
Furthermore, social bot profiles tend to be active at certain times and then go quiet until the next time they are activated. They also have a generic profile picture and follow a large number of accounts, but have few followers.
Artificial interactions that boost the popularity of posts
One of the main aims of social bots is to generate artificial engagement. Through coordinated actions such as likes, shares and comments, networks of bots can make a piece of content or a profile appear far more popular than it actually is.
This mechanism exploits the algorithms of social media platforms, which tend to promote content with high engagement, thereby helping to further spread manipulative messages.
The widespread creation of fake online conversations
Social bots can strategically intervene in online discussions to shape the tone and direction of conversations. By using linguistic analysis techniques and managing multiple accounts simultaneously, they are able to promote certain narratives, target specific users or amplify polarising content, giving the impression that such opinions are emerging spontaneously from a large community.
This strategy is known as ‘astroturfing’ and is used to create a sense of being surrounded among users, who believe there is a mass consensus, when in reality it is generated by machines.
Let’s defend humanity
in the digital age
in the digital age
We are building collaborative and innovative approaches to
protect those in need
/ CYBER NEWS