
Researchers: Nearly Half of Accounts Tweeting About Coronavirus Are Likely Bots - anigbrowl
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/05/20/859814085/researchers-nearly-half-of-accounts-tweeting-about-coronavirus-are-likely-bots
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gbpz
"We do know that it looks like it's a propaganda machine, and it definitely
matches the Russian and Chinese playbooks, but it would take a tremendous
amount of resources to substantiate that,"

It seems irresponsible to say then. I feel that while bots are prevalent, so
are idiots.

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blaser-waffle
Idiots don't write bot scripting operations. China and Russia have a proven
history of this. There are others who invest heavily in this sphere too, like
Israel, North Korea, and some non-trivial efforts by the Saudis and Iran.

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bcaa7f3a8bbc
> _Idiots don 't write bot scripting operations._

My personal experience is: an army of bots is useful but the effectiveness is
limited. The key is to activate and mobilize a group of crazy people, by
influencers or bots - real humans, genuine citizens - who's willing to be the
online warriors of an ideology to work for you, e.g. "We must stop the
globalist", "They're taking away our guns", or "Impeach Trump". The ideology
is not limited to a specific one, anyone can use this method.

The Russian seems to have developed a powerful strategy against the USA:
actively promoting conflicting ideologies of all sides to increase political
instability.

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anigbrowl
True, but it's pretty labor-intensive and scripted bots help to relieve that
burden as well as providing amplification capabilities.

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ignoramceisblis
What percentage of tweets in general are by bots? Not insignificant, I'm sure.
Bots did not spring up for this occasion.

