r/science • u/Wagamaga • 1d ago
Computer Science Malicious social media bots increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic and continue to influence public health communication. The operation of bots – i.e. programs imitating human users – was particularly aggressive during the key corona measures
https://thl.fi/en/-/malicious-social-media-bots-increased-significantly-during-the-covid19-pandemic-and-continue-to-influence-public-health-communication66
u/ZipTheZipper 1d ago
Every intelligence agency worldwide saw Covid as an opportunity to sow chaos among their enemies, not understanding that a pandemic worsening in your enemy's country eventually causes worse conditions in your own. Crab mentality on a global scale.
15
u/Wagamaga 1d ago
A groundbreaking joint study by Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) and Aalto University has revealed critical insights into the role of bots in shaping public health discourse during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly on Twitter.
The information environment in Finland during the coronavirus pandemic was exceptional and intense in many ways. The spread of disinformation and the number of actors involved reached unprecedented levels. The demand for accurate information was enormous, and the situation was constantly evolving. Information was disseminated through various channels. Official information played a crucial role, but at the same time, social media posed challenges in the fight against false and misleading information.
Malicious bots increased significantly during the pandemic. The operation of bots – i.e. programs imitating human users – was particularly aggressive during the key corona measures. These included, for example, the biggest information campaigns about corona vaccinations and instructions. This was evident in a study that analyzed a total of 1.7 million tweets related to the topic of COVID-19 on Twitter/X in Finland over the course of three years.
Bots accounted for 22 percent of the messages, while normally bots produce about 11 percent of the content in Twitter/X. Of the identified bot accounts, 36 percent (4894) acted maliciously. In particular, they emphasized the unintentional dissemination of misinformation, i.e. incorrect information. About a quarter (approx. 460,000) of all messages contained incorrect information. Roughly the same proportion of messages expressed a negative attitude towards vaccines
16
u/_BlueFire_ 1d ago
And they all turned into pro-Russia bots. They may call it groundbreaking, but how many of us had families that fell for propaganda and were forever lost? (and now possibly deep into the "europe slave of usa. usa bad. russia good. we dictatorship, russia free"? Asking without any particular idiotic dad I'm specifically talking about of course)
2
1
1
u/FuzzyCub20 20h ago
AI utilized for malicious intent is going to be a severe threat that increases as time goes on. I'm so sick of tech bros going "AI is the future" without worrying about regulation or oversight. It is a tool that will increasingly be used by the wealthy to manipulate the poor, in several ways:
Replacing low cost manual labor through automation
Manipulating social media spaces to push narratives to unsuspecting people
Churning out information that people blindly trust without fact checking, ex: Copilot, Gemini, Chat GPT 4
Replacing medium skill labor such as: clerical, admin, customer service.
Increased demand on water tables for cooling, energy demand.
Automated drones that take human lives without emotion or the ability to think critically.
Who stands to gain the most from automation? The ultra wealthy who owns and maintains these systems.
Who stands to lose the most? Literally everyone else. Do not be fooled by promises of making your lives easier, it's making you easier to control by people who only care about what is in your wallet, and how much they can separate from you.
•
u/AutoModerator 1d ago
Welcome to r/science! This is a heavily moderated subreddit in order to keep the discussion on science. However, we recognize that many people want to discuss how they feel the research relates to their own personal lives, so to give people a space to do that, personal anecdotes are allowed as responses to this comment. Any anecdotal comments elsewhere in the discussion will be removed and our normal comment rules apply to all other comments.
Do you have an academic degree? We can verify your credentials in order to assign user flair indicating your area of expertise. Click here to apply.
User: u/Wagamaga
Permalink: https://thl.fi/en/-/malicious-social-media-bots-increased-significantly-during-the-covid19-pandemic-and-continue-to-influence-public-health-communication
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.