Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » Social media isn’t real life
SUBSCRIBE to Capitol Fax      Advertise Here      About     Exclusive Subscriber Content     Updated Posts    Contact Rich Miller
CapitolFax.com
To subscribe to Capitol Fax, click here.
Social media isn’t real life

Saturday, May 23, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Carnegie Mellon University

Scrolling through your Twitter feed, it may not be obvious when you come upon a bot account — something that is more likely to occur in the era of COVID-19. Carnegie Mellon University researchers have discovered that much of the discussion around the pandemic and stay-at-home orders is being fueled by misinformation campaigns that use convincing bots.

To analyze bot activity around the pandemic, CMU researchers since January have collected more than 200 million tweets discussing coronavirus or COVID-19. Of the top 50 influential retweeters, 82% are bots, they found. Of the top 1,000 retweeters, 62% are bots. […]

“We’re seeing up to two times as much bot activity as we’d predicted based on previous natural disasters, crises and elections,” said Kathleen Carley, a professor in the School of Computer Science’s Institute for Software Research and director of the Center for Computational Analysis of Social and Organizational Systems (CASOS) and Center for Informed Democracy & Social - Cybersecurity (IDeaS.) […]

Carley’s research team uses multiple methods to determine who is or isn’t a bot. Artificial intelligence processes account information and looks at things such as the number of followers, frequency of tweeting and an account’s mentions network. […]

More than 100 types of inaccurate COVID-19 stories have been identified, such as those about potential cures. But bots are also dominating conversations about ending stay-at-home orders and “reopening America.”

Many factors of the online discussions about “reopening America” suggest that bot activity is orchestrated. One indicator is the large number of bots, many of which are accounts that were recently created. Accounts that are possibly humans with bot assistants generate 66% of the tweets. Accounts that are definitely bots generate 34% of the tweets.

“When we see a whole bunch of tweets at the same time or back to back, it’s like they’re timed,” Carley said. “We also look for use of the same exact hashtag, or messaging that appears to be copied and pasted from one bot to the next.” […]

A subset of tweets about “reopening America” reference conspiracy theories, such as hospitals being filled with mannequins or the coronavirus being linked to 5G towers.

“Conspiracy theories increase polarization in groups. It’s what many misinformation campaigns aim to do,” Carley said. “People have real concerns about health and the economy, and people are preying on that to create divides.”

Carley said that spreading conspiracy theories leads to more extreme opinions, which can in turn lead to more extreme behavior and less rational thinking.

       

12 Comments
  1. - Oswego Willy - Saturday, May 23, 20 @ 10:48 am:

    The biggest mistake (or what they like) is that social media platforms and the viral aspect that makes them a “must” to so many on there.

    Here I thought the most vulnerable, kids and seniors, were the ones to worry about on social media.

    What I’ve learned is the simple minded to “politics of my bubble” are the most vulnerable.

    Worse than an echo chamber, the forced narrative infiltrates not only the overt bots purposely, it seeps into… your cousins’, uncle’s… friends’ feeds… and the platforms look at these reaches… and the influence… even the bad… is seemingly celebrated.

    Trolls are gonna troll, “influencers” need that high… bots feed on our need to socialize in ways not best to society.

    “Don’t press send”… is now… look who is sending and pushing… our divides.


  2. - JS Mill - Saturday, May 23, 20 @ 10:51 am:

    It is disturbing and disssapointing that people are still falling for this. Based on some of what I have heard coming out of people’s mouths and coverage of protests, people are buying in hook, line, and sinker. Confirmation bias is very powerful these days.


  3. - Grandson of Man - Saturday, May 23, 20 @ 10:55 am:

    I believe it’s important to follow traditional news outlets, ones with known reporters. The president profits politically from purveyance of phony information, such as described above. He demonizes and attacks traditional news media, which is dangerous.


  4. - The Other Rich Hill - Saturday, May 23, 20 @ 10:58 am:

    And yet Facebook, Twitter, YouTube are doing relatively little to remove or prevent bots.

    In fact Facebook is currently doing *less* to combat fake news and fake accounts stating they currently have less resources “due to COVID-19″.

    If any job seems like it’s perfect for working from home it would be a job where all you do is delete fake accounts from Facebook. :)


  5. - @misterjayem - Saturday, May 23, 20 @ 10:58 am:

    “Conspiracy theories increase polarization in groups. It’s what many misinformation campaigns aim to do.”

    Comment trolls, too.

    – MrJM


  6. - drudge - Saturday, May 23, 20 @ 11:35 am:

    Agreed. “Reality TV” isn’t either


  7. - Nearly Normal - Saturday, May 23, 20 @ 11:39 am:

    The big problem is there is no policing by the owners of the sites. As noted above by “The Other Rich Hill” the sites are rife with misinformation about these hot button issues. I have been shocked by the repeating of these false stories by people whom I thought were intelligent enough to do some fact checking. The problem is that when another person whom they respect forwards on these stories, there is an assumption that they have been verified. Not so, it just keeps multiplying and stirring up anger and resentment.

    It makes my blood boil to see Nazi symbols and flags at these protests. And I am not friendly towards Confederate flags either. The ugly truth behind those flags is forgotten in all of this.


  8. - Lynn S. - Saturday, May 23, 20 @ 11:39 am:

    Somewhere in here it feels like I should say something about Vladimir Putin, his history in the KGB, and how the Russian troll factories (and their 17 year old employees from the former Yugoslavia) messed with the 2016 election.

    But Covid-19 is currently mowing down people in Russia.

    Too bad it (first Covid-19, then the troll factories messing up political campaigns) won’t hit Vlad?


  9. - thoughts matter - Saturday, May 23, 20 @ 11:47 am:

    Twitter, Facebook, conspiracy web sites that pretend to be journalists, 24 hour news that focuses on 1 issue are all stoking the fires of a great divide in our country. All that aided and abetted in getting the election results we got in 2016. I don’t know what the answers are to get us back to what used to pass for normal. Civility seems to be damaged beyond all repair. People think the way people act in reality shows is the way to treat friends, family, strangers. People think that electing unqualified candidates because they are amusing is what we need to run our country. Well, they are running it into the ground.


  10. - Bruce (no not him) - Saturday, May 23, 20 @ 12:58 pm:

    I used to try and explain and correct my friends on facebook when they shared bad info. It got to the point, that it became easier to just ignore them. It fits their agenda, so they are OK with it.


  11. - Amy B - Saturday, May 23, 20 @ 1:43 pm:

    The cheat sheet thread at the end of session is one of the small things that makes me so very happy. Thanks Rich!!! xoxo


  12. - Chicagoan - Saturday, May 23, 20 @ 1:58 pm:

    Kinzinger posted a good video statement about this earlier this week


Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.


* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Update to today's edition
* It’s just a bill
* Illinois Hospitals Are Driving Economic Activity Across Illinois: $117.7B Annually And 445K Jobs
* Pritzker signs bill banning post-primary slating, adding advisory questions to ballot (Updated)
* Rides For Moms Provides Transportation To Prenatal Care
* Question of the day
* Get The Facts On The Illinois Prescription Drug Board
* Doctors accuse McHenry County State’s Attorney of making 'baseless accusations' about legislation (Updated)
* Open thread
* Isabel’s morning briefing
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today's edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)
* Live coverage
* Yesterday's stories

Support CapitolFax.com
Visit our advertisers...

...............

...............

...............

...............

...............

...............

...............


Loading


Main Menu
Home
Illinois
YouTube
Pundit rankings
Obama
Subscriber Content
Durbin
Burris
Blagojevich Trial
Advertising
Updated Posts
Polls

Archives
May 2024
April 2024
March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004

Blog*Spot Archives
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005

Syndication

RSS Feed 2.0
Comments RSS 2.0




Hosted by MCS SUBSCRIBE to Capitol Fax Advertise Here Mobile Version Contact Rich Miller