Suspected Network Of 13,000 Twitter Bots Pumped Out Pro-Brexit Messages In Run-Up To EU Vote

[Denzil_DC]

Researchers have uncovered new evidence of networks of thousands of suspect Twitter bots working to influence the Brexit debate in the run-up to the EU referendum.

The findings, from researchers at City, University of London, include a network of more than 13,000 suspected bots that tweeted predominantly pro-Brexit messages before being deleted or removed from Twitter in the weeks following the vote.

The research – which is published in the peer-reviewed Social Science Computer Review journal and was shared exclusively with BuzzFeed News – suggests the suspected bot accounts were eight times more likely to tweet pro-leave than pro-remain content.

"This is research that corroborates what Facebook and others say: that there are bots that serve to falsely amplify certain messages," co-author Dan Mercea told BuzzFeed News.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/jamesball/a-suspected-network-of-13000-twitter-bots-pumped-out-pro

How decisive this might have been is open to debate - and I'm not convinced that we who generally spend substantial amounts of time online don't overestimate the influence of memes compared to the chit-chat down the pub and the deluge of misinformation in the more widely available print and broadcast media - but it's another piece of the jigsaw puzzle that shows how we got where we are, and in a vote that was too close to call, any influence is potentially decisive.