10.25383/city.6955253.v1
Marco Bastos
Marco
Bastos
Brexit Botnet
City, University of London
2018
Brexit
Twitter
Social media
Fake News
Sockpuppets
Retweet cascades
Political bots
Sociology
Communication Technology and Digital Media Studies
2018-08-13 16:40:54
Figure
https://city.figshare.com/articles/figure/Brexit_Botnet/6955253
The image shows the interaction on Twitter between bots and real users during the UK EU membership referendum. Bots or automated accounts are often used as sockpuppets, which are false online identities used to voice opinions and manipulate public opinion while pretending to be another person. The hub and spoke formations shown in the network result from the large volume of retweets triggered by bots, which are effective at rapidly generating cascades.