Fake News Bots Are Here

Sam Woolley was interviewed about bots and the 2016 US Election on NPR.

How do you judge public opinion on any given issue? What others are thinking? Paying attention to? If social media play into your read, watch out. When it comes to politics in particular, social media can be overrun with, twisted by, bots. Automated accounts – not real people — deployed in their hundreds and thousands to pump a certain perspective on news online. The president responded to a bogus account this weekend – welcoming its support. This hour On Point: bots invade the political world.

Listen to the full episode here.