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Social media ‘bots’ from Russia distorting global politics: study

Published on
1 Jul 2017
Written by
Robert Gorwa

Our recent case study series was covered in a Yahoo story, with a focus on the Russia report written by Sergey Sanovich:

In Russia, the researchers said they found 45 percent of the political conversation is dominated by “highly automated accounts.”

While Twitter was an effective tool for pro-democracy activists during the Arab Spring movements starting in 2010, the researchers say authoritarian governments now use these platforms to suppress social activism.

Perhaps the most flagrant examples of computational propaganda are in Ukraine, they said, describing it as “the frontline of numerous disinformation campaigns in Europe.”

They said fake stories such as one about “a crucified boy” or another about Ukrainian soldiers being paid with “two slaves and a piece of land” have turned into “textbook examples of how propaganda works.”

Read the full article at Yahoo News.

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