What role do bots play in disinformation campaigns?

The online space is already teeming with non-human conversation participants

In an ever-changing and ever-challenging digital era, the rise of bots and chatbots has ushered in a reign fraught with both promise and peril. Originally developed to enhance user experiences, these automated entities have, in recent times, increasingly been weaponised to propagate false narratives and manipulate public opinion.

Why were bots developed?

Bots were first invented with the purpose of automatizing tasks and increasing efficiency, and to improve user experiences across various platforms and industries. By the nature of their algorithms, they can handle repetitive tasks faster and more consistently than any human ever could, thus leading to a decrease in terms of costs and an increase in productivity for businesses.

Additionally, bots were built to provide personalized assistance and guidance to users, enhancing their interaction with brands and the products and services they offer.

The dual nature of bots

Bots have long been essential in optimising not only laborious repetitive tasks for businesses - saving them tons in terms of money and manpower, as well as time –, but also in enhancing user experiences across platforms by providing customers with guidance catered to their specific needs.

Furthermore, bots play a crucial role in data analysis, collecting and examining vast amounts of information in order to provide valuable information, pivotal for decision-making. However, their potential for misuse in spreading disinformation has become a significant reason for concern over the last decade.

How do bots spread disinformation?

At the forefront of this problem are social media platforms, where bots operate with alarming efficiency, amplifying misleading information, distorting reality and boosting content of this nature. Leveraging the algorithms and exploiting vulnerabilities in platform design, these bots infiltrate online portals, posing as authentic users while promulgating fake news, conspiracy theories, and propaganda.

Similarly, chatbots, designed to simulate human dialogue, have emerged on the web and now pervade online conversations where they serve as covert agents of disinformation. Through personalized interactions and by mimicking human behaviour, the chatbots engage the real users in tailored narratives, exploiting their vulnerabilities and reinforcing existing biases.

What are the consequences of those interferences?

The effects of bot-driven disinformation are profound, undermining the credibility of news outlets, of the journalism profession, of governmental entities and the foundation of democracy as a whole.

In doing so, they corrode the trust the public has in those institutions, thus wreaking havoc upon society. And, in a time as politically challenging as 2024 is, with geopolitical conflicts boiling over across the globe, and political elections approaching, the impact could be catastrophic.

How do we address this issue?

Combatting the whiplash of bot-driven disinformation requires a multangular approach. Tech companies must implement robust detection mechanisms to identify and alleviate the influence bots have on their platforms.

Additionally, regulatory frameworks must be developed and imposed to hold perpetrators of disinformation accountable and safeguard the integrity of online discourse. Moreover, education plays a crucial role in fostering an environment in which disinformation does not flourish.

Thus, ensuring support towards improving the media literacy rate and fostering critical thinking skills across all ages is elemental. With those two skills strongly developed within the general population, individuals would be more empowered and prone to discern fact from fiction and question the source of the information they encounter, as well as the motivation behind it.

This article is part of Read Twice – an EU-funded project, coordinated by Euro Advance Association that targets young people and aims to counter disinformation and fake news by enhancing their skills to assess critically information, identify vicious and harmful media content and distinguish between facts and opinions, thus improving their media literacy competences.

The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of its author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union nor of TheMayor.EU.