33:48Tracking Political Manipulation Through Social Media - Samantha Bradshaw
From Y Combinator · Published Jul 22, 2019 · Watch on YouTube
TL;DR
Bots are scripts that mimic human behavior to amplify content or manipulate algorithms on social media. Political manipulation using automation and disinformation has expanded globally, with tactics evolving from simple retweets to content creation and algorithmic gaming. The ratio of junk news to professional news actually increased from 1:1 in 2016 to 12-13:1 in the 2018 US midterms.
Key insights
- Bots range from benign web scrapers (Google) to malicious accounts designed to mimic humans and amplify popularity by liking, sharing, following, or even chatting.
- More sophisticated bots use natural language processing to interact in comment threads, and modern operations create content tailored to push societal “buttons.”
- Bot tactics have evolved from crude automated sharing to keyword stuffing for search engine/YouTube ranking, and now include full content creation (e.g., Russia’s Internet Research Agency).
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