Policy Papers / Publications
on November 1, 2016 at 5:07 pm ×
Bots are social media accounts that automate interaction with other users, and political bots have been particularly active on public policy issues, political crises, and elections. We collected data on bot activity using the major hashtags related to the third U.S. Presidential debate. We find that automated pro-Trump accounts became […]
In The News / News Feature
on October 26, 2016 at 11:49 pm ×
Helped with a BBC story on the battles between candidate bots. The suspected bot accounts tweeted more than 1.7 million times on the days of the debates and the next three days. The study warns they might “polarise” online debate and “muddy” issues. The work was led by Prof Philip Howard, […]
In The News / Interviewed
on October 26, 2016 at 11:34 pm ×
Contributed to this CBC National news story on bots and the election.
In The News / Interviewed
on October 26, 2016 at 11:32 pm ×
Our research was featured on the CBC National News, and in this online piece. Thousands of automated accounts — known as bots — flood site with messages for and against candidates. @loserDonldTrump wasn’t born yesterday. It was actually the day before. Just after 3 p.m. ET on October 18, the baby […]