LOS ANGELES - U.S. computer scientists say that the presence of software robots can negatively impact online democratic political discussion and endanger the integrity of the presidential election in the country.
According to a recent paper published on the journal First Monday, computer scientists, by leveraging bot detection algorithms, have found that a surprisingly high percentage of the U.S. political discussion taking place on Twitter was created by software robots, or social bots, with the express purpose of distorting the online discussion regarding the elections.
"Many recent papers have demonstrated how people's opinions are swayed by what they read online, (and) bots can contribute to that effect," Emilio Ferrara, the author of the study, wrote to Xinhua.
A "bot," short for software robot, is a type of automated computer software. A social bot is programmed to control a social media account. By tweeting, retweeting, sharing contents, making comments, "liking" other users, and even engaging in conversations, social bots can appear as real people.
While many bots are designed to provide service to the online community, many others, like the ones found here, intentionally pose as humans, keeping their artificial identity undisclosed. (Xinhua)