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Americans are using bot-like networks to manipulate public opinion, study finds

By 37ci3 Nov1,2024


American political activists on the left and right are using networks of social media followers behaving like bots to rapidly spread conspiracy theories that reach large swaths of the US population, according to a new report by a disinformation research group.

The hoax that an assassination attempt on Donald Trump was staged in Butler, Pennsylvania, and that Haitian migrants stole and ate pets in Ohio, spread quite similarly across social media platforms. Both were spread by groups of linked accounts that engaged in “coordinated, unwarranted behavior,” the report said.The Botization of the American Mind,” by Rutgers University’s Network Contagion Research Institute, or NCRI.

While such sophisticated disinformation tactics are often linked to foreign actors like Russia, Iran or China, the report highlights a disturbing domestic trend: Americans themselves are using techniques to spread harmful lies designed to manipulate and polarize public opinion.

“This is a troubling trend in American politics,” said NCRI co-founder Joel Finkelstein. “You have tens of thousands of netizens who want to expand this kind of content. We said for a long time that we are the Russians, the Chinese.”

The report found that Democrats using the hashtag #BlueCrew played a key role in spreading the discredited idea that Trump’s shooting in Butler was fake or staged.

NCRI identified 951 accounts that engaged in “coordinated paranormal activity” linked to a pro-Harris campaign called #BlueCrew. The accounts were shared nearly 2 million times between July 10 and October 10, the report said, “exhibiting behavior indicative of organized efforts to amplify specific narratives.”

In relation to the Haitian pet story, NCRI identified at least 473 pro-Trump accounts that engaged in what researchers called “coordinated inappropriate behavior” between July 10 and October 10, which were posted 1.1 million times.

There are researchers documented many times how propagandists use automated accounts or bots to spread fake news on social media.

Springfield, Ohio water tower.
Springfield, Ohio, water tower.NBC News

Not all accounts that engage in coordinated inauthentic behavior are bots. Many are run by real people. But the researchers say the accounts behave in ways designed to fuel the spread of narratives. NCRI found that the more accounts have these characteristics, the more likely they are to spread conspiracy theories.

“Accounts we identified engaged in activities to grow followers, post lists of accounts to follow, and encourage mutual following,” the report said. “Most of these accounts maintained a follower ratio of around 1. By sharing the same posts and using linked hashtags, they aimed to influence the trending topics on social media platforms.”

NCRI conducted online polls that found 21% of Americans believe Haitians eat pets, and 30% believe Trump was assassinated.

“These highly ambiguous accounts do more than spread misinformation; they create a self-reinforcing cycle,” the NCRI report says. “Bot-like people link to reinforce bot-like beliefs … reducing real dialogue to predictable, manipulative narratives that deepen division.”

Just this week, #BlueCrew-affiliated accounts began spreading another fake news story — that House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has vowed not to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris if she wins. An account on X called @Judyree72400929 wrote that MSNBC reported it, which was false.

The post has been retweeted nearly 10,000 times and viewed 2.7 million times. It pulled a “readers adding context” notice from X that MSNBC said there was no such claim.

In September, the same account shared a TikTok message telling Trump that the assassination was “not real” and that it was a “photograph.”

@Judyree72400929 did not respond to a private chat request.

“These extremely vague accounts are not only involved in spreading misinformation; they are the main drivers of the volume of content related to these false narratives,” the NCRI report said. “This means that a relatively small number of organized, inauthentic accounts are responsible for a disproportionately large share of the misinformation being spread.

“Their combined efforts amplify the reach and impact of these false narratives,” the report adds, “effectively shaping the debate and potentially influencing public perception at large.”



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