Citation

Bots and Computational Propaganda: Automation for Communication and Control

Author:
Woolley, Samuel C.
Year:
2020

This chapter explores core arguments surrounding the political use of bots. It details the brief history of their use online. It accesses the academic literature to highlight key themes on the subject of what some researchers call computational propaganda and others simultaneously call “information operations,” “information warfare,” “influence operations,” “online astroturfing,” “cybertufing,” and many other terms. Computational propaganda, and each of these other concepts to one degree or another, focuses on the ways in which the use of algorithms, automation (most often in the form of political bots), and human curation are used over social media to purposefully distribute misleading information over social media networks.