Trolls, bots and bot nets
Trolls are more than just the mythic creature living under a bridge
The mechanisms involved in the lie machines can be split into two: people and technology. In this final blog post I will be discussing how these components are combined to create trolls, bots, botnets.
‘Troll armies, bot networks, and fake news operations are formal structures of misinformation’ (Howard, 2020, p.22).
Bots and trolls partake in the lie machines through social media networks, through spreading misinformation leaving users a ‘disproportionate share of the public conversation because of the fake user accounts’ (Howard, 2020, p.14).
TROLL ARMIES
‘Troll armies have been long in use’ (Dwonch, 2020, p.2), with them first being utilised in Russia through the IRA (internet research agency) in 2007. In the early days Russian trolls had been seen to be ‘encouraging extreme right-wing voters to be more confrontational’ (Howard, 2020, p.49).
Russia’s lie machine inspired ‘copycat IRA agencies in China, India, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela’ (Howard, 2020, p.33).
A whistle blower came out admitting to being a troll hired by India’s BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party — right wing political party). In a series of interviews, they gave information about how trolls would start ‘arguments or upsetting people by posting inflammatory comments and images’ (Chaturvedi, 2016, p.5).
‘In many countries, cyber troops engage in these negative interactions with political dissidents’ (Bradshaw & Howard, 2017, p.9). In India much of the junk news pushed out by trolls was hate speech, ‘producing clickbait content’ (Howard, 2020, p.34) and like Russia, pushed a right wing, nationalistic agenda.
BOTS AND BOTNETS
What is a bot? Howard (2020) defines bots as…
‘A bot or botnet — from robot and network — is a collection of programs that communicate across multiple devices to perform tasks’ (p.56).
Once again the tasks at hand are to ‘disseminate computational propaganda over social media platforms using automation, algorithms, and big data analytics to manipulate public life’ (Howard, 2020, p.33). Their tasks vary between ‘generating spam’ or aggressive messaging like online trolls. The difference between bots and trolls though is that bots are not people, they are a program.
Bots are not considered to be a threat, mainly by users who do not believe they can be manipulated by them. However, they ‘are a special kind of malware’ (Tiirmaa-Klaar et al., 2013). They have disguised themselves under accounts that have stolen images and a bio that gives the presumption of a human. Thus Howard (2020) describes them as ‘a powerful tool for negative campaigning’ (p.57). They are able to blend into conversation and on a large scale, this can be detrimental.
The threats of trolls and bots is important to pay attention to, especially with advancements to tech which will invite artificial intelligence to participate as a cog in the lie machine. ‘The prospect of AI-generated propaganda is serious’ (Howard, 2020, p.144). If bots are hard to identify, one can only deduce that A.I. will be even harder.
However, it is not all downhill and some methods we can take to combat bots, trolls and A.I. include reintroducing ‘long-form, high-quality journalism’ (Howard, 2020, p.22), social media redesigns, a push for more regulation and more.
In the meantime, stay safe online, check your sources and report junk news!
Bibliography
Bradshaw, S., & Howard, P. (2017). Troops, Trolls and Troublemakers: A Global Inventory of Organized Social Media Manipulation. In Computational Propaganda Research Project (pp. 1–37). Oxford Internet Institute. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:cef7e8d9-27bf-4ea5-9fd6-855209b3e1f6
Chaturvedi, S. (2016). I Am a Troll: Inside the Secret World of the BJP’s Digital Army. Juggernaut Books. https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=NK5oDwAAQBAJ&dq=Troll+armies+and+social+media&lr=&source=gbs_navlinks_s
CNA Insider. (2022, Aug 6). Internet Trolls: The Unseen Force Behind Philippines’ Politics | Undercover Asia | CNA Documentary. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_972Y8iwrX8
Dwonch, A. (2020). Philip N. Howard, Lie Machines, How to Save Democracy from Troll Armies, Deceitful Robots, Junk News Operations, and Political Operatives. International Journal Of Communication, 14(3). https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/15784.
Howard, P. N. (2020). Lie machines: How to save democracy from troll armies, deceitful robots, junk news operations, and political operatives. Yale University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv10sm8wg.
Tiirmaa-Klaar, H., Gassen, J., Gerhards-Padilla, E., & Martini, P. (2013). Botnets: How to fight the ever-growing threat on a technical level. In H. Tiirmaa-Klaar (Ed.), SpringerBriefs in Cybersecurity. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5216-3_2
Logically. (2019). Troll army invasions and their impact. [Image]. Logically. https://www.logically.ai/articles/invasion-of-troll-army-and-its-impact
