This current U.S. presidential election race has proven to be one of the most contentious in American history, with the choice of the next POTUS being a woman in the form of Hillary Clinton and a businessman with no political experience in the form of Donald Trump. The campaign landscape on social media, which has never been that pleasant, to begin with, has been mired in pointless arguments and trolling. Now, it would seem that bots are being used to spread misinformation about this election, with Twitter being the main battleground.
According to the Technology Review publication by MIT, as many as 20 percent of the Tweets about this election are coming from bots instead of actual human users. This number comes from a study posted on First Monday, where researchers used algorithms specifically intended to track bots to find out just how far the mindless drones have invaded Twitter. As it turns out, they are really dug in deep.
The fact that bots are actually being used to supposedly weigh in on the political climate is bad enough, what with them being non-organic and can, therefore, Tweet all the day long, but a lot of them were found to be quite influential. This makes them potent weapons to distort facts during Election Day, potentially warping the results in favor of one candidate over the other.
The researchers have not been able to determine the origins of the bots nor could they determine who is creating them. Emilio Ferrara, one of the authors of the study spoke with Technology Review and revealed that they could find the bots and track their activities, but not those behind them.
For those wondering, bots favor both camps of this election, CBC reports. According to Phil Howard, an expert on bots from the Oxford Internet Institute, a third of the bots are in favor of Trump, while a quarter is playing for Clinton’s corner.


Japan Tech Stocks Surge as AI Optimism Lifts SoftBank, Chipmakers
Meta Plans $13B AI Data Center Financing in Texas Amid Surging Big Tech Investment
Trump Rejects Iran Proposal as Strait of Hormuz Crisis Pushes Oil Prices Higher
Intel Emerges as Key Contender in Apple’s Chip Manufacturing Strategy Shift
Trump-Xi Summit Sparks Renewed Hope for Americans Detained in China
Supermicro Forecasts Strong Q4 Revenue Growth as AI Server Demand Surges
Taiwan Confident in Strong U.S. Relations Ahead of Trump-Xi China Summit
BHP Attracts AI-Focused Investors as Copper Demand Surges
Anthropic Secures $1.5B AI Venture Backed by Wall Street Giants, Shaking Software Sector
Ukraine-Russia Ceasefire Confirmed as Prisoner Swap Deal Advances
Israel’s Secret Iraq Base Allegedly Supported Iran Air Campaign, WSJ Reports
Trump Announces Russia-Ukraine Ceasefire for May 9-11 Amid Ongoing Peace Talks
Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum Reconsiders Early School Closure Plan Ahead of 2026 World Cup
Qatar LNG Tanker Crosses Strait of Hormuz Amid Iran War Tensions
Hua Hong Semiconductor Stock Surges to Multi-Year High Amid AI Boom
Qatar Condemns Drone Strike as Iran Conflict Threatens Gulf Shipping and Global Markets
TikTok Nears $400 Million Settlement With Trump Administration Over Child Privacy Lawsuit




