Bots Are Likely Responsible For Nearly Half Of COVID-19 Tweets

[ffr]

Why it's best to just stop reading after the post or tweet you are on. Half of what comes after is all computer generated bullshit.

Nearly half of some 200 million tweets about COVID-19 likely came from bots, with many of them plugging false cures, peddling conspiracy theories and clamoring for the U.S. to drop safety measures in order to re-open America, researchers have found.

Ongoing research by computer scientists at Carnegie Mellon University indicates that a significant portion of the social media conversation about COVID-19 is likely automated amplifications of political perspectives and do not represent individual human authors.

The study has reached no conclusion about which interests may be primarily responsible for the bots, but many of the messages are repeating information from Russian and Chinese state media. During the 2016 presidential election, computer operations linked to the Kremlin were found to be responsible for campaign tweets and other messages that further divided the American electorate by amplifying controversy. - HuffPost

[Shell_Seas]

1. But, why?

[msongs]

2. why? because twitter (the sewer of the internet) makes money from them nt

[ffr]

3. It says why right there in the first sentence!!

You just have to imply that human existence is a war of wills, enemies pitted against enemies.

[TreasonousBastard]

4. Only half?

[ffr]

5. Exactly. I would have said 90% are propaganda

Simply because BOTS can post and will post without a passing thought of time and effort. Humans are just too slow and sometimes too considerate.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. I guess not being on Twitter is a good thing.

[budkin]

7. Russians sowing division

They absolutely love seeing us fight ourselves, which is one of the major reasons they helped Trump get elected.