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'Armies' of Twitter Bots Bolster Both The Trump And Clinton Campaigns (technewsworld.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the making-America-tweet-again dept.

An anonymous reader writes: During the first U.S. presidential debate, "automated accounts were tweeting messages with hashtags associated with the candidates. For example, #makeamericagreatagain or #draintheswamp for Trump; #imwithher for Clinton," according to TechNewsWorld. They cite researchers at PoliticalBots.org, who "found that one-third of all tweets using pro-Trump hashtags were created by bots and one-fifth of all Clinton hashtags were generated by automated accounts."

In addition, "Political actors and governments worldwide have begun using bots to manipulate public opinion, choke off debate, and muddy political issues... We know for a fact that Russia, as a state, has sponsored the use of bots for attacking transnational targets... We've had cases in Mexico, Turkey, South Korea and Australia. The problem is that a lot of people don't know bots exist, and that trends on social media or even online polls can be gamed by bots very easily."
After the second presidential debate, "Pro-Clinton bots 'fought back'," reported the BBC, adding that they were still outnumbered by the Trump bots.

11 of 214 comments (clear)

  1. That's OK, Twitter fights back... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That's OK, Twitter fights back against the Trump bots by blocking hashtags from trending. When the FBI reopened the investigation into Hillary's emails, several pro-Trump hashtags (naturally) started trending ... briefly. Then Twitter caught on and suppressed them from appearing in the Trending list.

    The same does not apply to pro-Hillary hashtags, of course. Despite the fact that Trump hashtags frequently get many times more tweets than Hillary's hashtags (and if you assume those 33%/20% bot percentages are true and adjust for that, still more legitimate tweets), they're frequently blocked from trending.

    And Twitter wonders why no one wants to purchase them.

    1. Re:That's OK, Twitter fights back... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      Mainly that's because Twitter understands that a vote for Trump is a vote for nuclear armageddon.

    2. Re: That's OK, Twitter fights back... by beheaderaswp · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Same thing that happened in the UK with Brexit: The right propagandized for so long, and so vehemently, that they created their own reality which is separate from the rest of the world.

      They have their own wikipedias, creation museums, news sites, networks, religious views, and forums- all based on the presupposition that they are telling "the other point of view". But to separate yourself out society so far results in "us versus them".

      And "Republican Jesus" is at the helm...

      Most Americans have no problem with conservative views on politics and economics. The problem comes from social politics, separation of church and state, and the rejection of science. These issues are deal killers for the majority of Americans.

      --
      Another consultant who stuck it out.

      "We are the Priests, of the Temples of Syrinx..."
    3. Re: That's OK, Twitter fights back... by Opportunist · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Same way it went for the rest of the world. People got complacent and at the same time are afraid that the fat years might be over, so they do what every panicky animal does, turns off the brains and is open for wild, emotional manipulation.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    4. Re:That's OK, Twitter fights back... by DaHat · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Isn't it's rather silly to take any response off the table ahead of time?

      But to those who think a President Trump is actually the sort who might go and say.. order a first strike on Russia for making fun of him... the National Command Authority can still/would prevent such a launch.

      Yes, a Saturday Night Massacre is possible, it's inconceivable it would go on to the point that enough of a surviving chain would agree to relay the command.

      While I'm not a fan of either, I will at least acknowledge that a President Trump is more check-able than a President Clinton (45)

      --
      Help Brendan pay off his student loans
    5. Re: That's OK, Twitter fights back... by Tesen · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Well the Tea Party has killed the RNC. Their strategy is: Find a bunch of people that have never obtained their dreams, blame a bunch of other people for it... presto! Votes!

      I forget the stats and I am to lazy to look then up atm, but listening earlier this week the number of Trump female supports who still support him yet believe he sexually assaulted those women is shocking. Not believing the allegations is one thing, but to believe them and go, "Fuck, who cares?" is something else.

    6. Re:That's OK, Twitter fights back... by lucm · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Here's what Wikipedia has to say about totalitarianism.

      Totalitarian regimes stay in political power through an all-encompassing propaganda campaign that is disseminated through the state-controlled mass media, a single party that is often marked by political repression, personality cultism, control over the economy, regulation and restriction of speech, mass surveillance, and widespread use of terror.

      When Twitter, Facebook or "Project Include" embark on a mission to quiet Trump supporters, when they collude to create an anti-Trump narrative, when they support the sabotage of Trump conferences, they're not liberal heroes working for the greater good of America. They're the vanguard of an intolerant movement that threatens democracy. Those people are far more dangerous than Trump.

      --
      lucm, indeed.
    7. Re: That's OK, Twitter fights back... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You mean like the Left's claim that women make 70cents on the male dollar, white males oppress women and minorities, countries can survive with open borders, and one in 5 women are raped on College? Those Progressive Left beliefs are repeated by the left as factual, though we have had facts that counter all of those talking points? How about the leftist claim that service industries should be forced to do your bidding even if it's against your personal beliefs, unless you are in "that" group of Muslims?

      The problem is the Left is more guilty than the right about denying facts, but media and politicians refuse to talk about their lies. Like why is the answer to Global Warming "pay shit loads of money to governments and private corporations which have no clear agenda on resolving the actual problems with Global Warming?" Ask that question and you are simply a denier, right? Fuck people are stupid.

    8. Re: That's OK, Twitter fights back... by TapeCutter · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Trump followers are plain old anti-intellectuals, the GOP created them with Fox news. The fact their own angry mob has ripped their party apart is nothing less than poetic justice.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
  2. why does anybody care? by ooloorie · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Twitter is a cesspool of corporate and political propaganda, self-righteous indignation, and minor celebrities trying to make a name for themselves. Why does anybody listen to the crap these people post?

  3. RIP Vile Rat by Xenographic · · Score: 1, Insightful

    The funny thing about that is that there are some indications that the USA created the whole mess to begin with, hoping to destabilize the region and swoop in and take over if you trawl through the Wikileaks emails. I haven't seen them complaining that they're fake or altered since it came out that the DKIM signatures validate the emails as authentic.