In a recent discovery by American researchers, it was found that the social media platform X is harboring a large number of bot accounts spreading fake news related to the US election. Surprisingly, some of these accounts have been lurking for years without detection.
The “American Sunlight Project” based in Washington analyzed nearly 1,200 accounts and uncovered a long-standing network that has generated over a billion posts as of July this year.
According to the organization’s research, when a piece of content appears, other accounts in this network quickly repost it, showing signs of bot activity. Some accounts on X have managed to evade detection and management for up to 15 years.
Nina Jankowicz, the co-founder and CEO of the organization, stated to Agence France-Presse, “We are not surprised to find another pro-Russian bot network, but we are shocked to discover accounts within the covert network have been active for over a decade.”
The content disseminated by these bot accounts includes pro-Russian propaganda, support for Republican candidate Donald Trump, and false information about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
One account created in 2020 claimed that Clinton admitted she would become a “puppet” for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky if elected president.
This account also promoted false claims that the White House was exploiting recent Israeli attacks on Hezbollah to drive a change in power in Lebanon.
The “American Sunlight Project” noted that some accounts in this bot network use images from stock photo websites like Shutterstock to create fake identities. Additionally, to mask their objectives and appear more appealing, some accounts regularly share content on topics like sports and cryptocurrencies.
Researchers suggest that bots and other automated accounts have replaced Russian state media accounts restricted by Western countries since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, becoming channels for spreading Russia’s official misinformation.
Despite Musk’s pledge to combat digital manipulation, some studies have found that X is still plagued by bot activity.
A study conducted by the Queensland University of Technology in Australia last year analyzed about a million posts and found that bot accounts remain entrenched on the platform.
Jankowicz stated, “Despite Musk’s explicit desire to rid the platform of bots, we found they still exist on X, possibly even originating from networks associated with nations. This behavior is relatively easy to identify, yet this multi-billion-dollar company has not taken action against these accounts violating platform manipulation and spam policies.”
Jankowicz, who previously served as the head of combating misinformation at the US Department of Homeland Security, calls on X to shut down this network.
(This article references reports from Agence France-Presse)