Coordinated use of bots may interfere in elections
23:29
Coordinated use of bots is one of the techniques used to interfere in or disrupt elections - draws Poland's attention Institute of Economics. They were used, for example, during the Arab Spring, also part of the discussion about the pandemic and the obligation to stay at home comes from bots.
PIE analysts also pointed to the participation of bots controlled by unknown online trolls when promoting the ProteGO Safe application, which is used to monitor social contacts and to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Fictitious Twitter accounts, among others professors and doctors praised and encouraged the use of the new application.
As they pointed out in the latest issue of Tygodnik Gospodarczy PIE, coordinated use of bots is also one of the techniques used to interfere in or disrupt choices. Experts recalled data from the Freedom of the Net report, which shows that in 24 out of 30 countries where elections or referendums were held in 2018, they were disturbed by information campaigns conducted using automated accounts. "Bots were also widely used, among others, during the Arab spring," they noted.
PIE analysts pointed out that these types of techniques also serve other purposes, as evidenced by Twitter posts about the coronavirus pandemic. "Much of the discussion about the pandemic and the obligation to stay at home comes from bots," they pointed out, citing the results of a Carnegie Mellon University study that analyzed over 200 million entries. 82 percent of the 50 most influential readers. these were bots, and of the 1000 most influential - 62 percent.
In turn, researchers from Brown University have found, analyzing entries on the same platform after the United States withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement, that 25 percent. all entries about the climate crisis came from bots. They were e.g. responsible for 38 percent. news about "false science" and 28 percent of all entries about the Exxon oil tycoon
"Bots are just one of the elements used to misinform and influence election results, which should not be equated with hate speech or false news (so-called fake news)," emphasized PIE.
(PAP)
