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Caught in the propaganda crossfire? Bots on social media.
25 May 2017
Lisa-Maria Neudert gave a talk at re:publica 2017 in Berlin.
Computational propaganda – the use of information technologies for political manipulation – is on the rise. Social bots are crucial instruments in digital attacks: During the US elections 20% of all Twitter traffic was generated by them; and Trump bots outnumbered Clinton bots 5:1. During Brexit 1% of accounts drove nearly 1/3 of all traffic. Both state and non-state political actors have used bots to manipulate conversations, demobilize opposition, and generate false support on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram. Are bots weapons in a (cold) cyberwar? How are the used in the Bundestagswahl 2017?