Twitter Bots and Trolls Fuel Online Discord About Vaccines

[Judi Lynn]

By Rachael Rettner, Senior Writer | August 23, 2018 04:00pm ET

Twitter bots and trolls appear to be skewing online discussions about vaccinations, spreading misinformation on the topic and fueling online discord, according to a new study.

"The vast majority of Americans believe vaccines are safe and effective, but looking at Twitter gives the impression that there is a lot of debate," lead study author David Broniatowski, an assistant professor at George Washington University's School of Engineering and Applied Science in Washington, D.C., said in a statement. "It turns out that many anti-vaccine tweets come from accounts whose provenance is unclear," including bots or hacked accounts, Broniatowski said.

"Although it's impossible to know exactly how many tweets were generated by bots and trolls, our findings suggest that a significant portion of the online discourse about vaccines may be generated by malicious actors with a range of hidden agendas," he added. [5 Dangerous Vaccination Myths]

The study, which was published online today (Aug. 23) in the American Journal of Public Health, analyzed thousands of tweets posted to Twitter between July 2014 and September 2017. The researchers included a random sample of tweets, as well as tweets that specifically mentioned vaccines. They then used publicly available data to identify accounts known to belong to bots or trolls, including "Russian troll" accounts that were identified by the U.S. Congress. ("Bots" are accounts that automate content, while "trolls" are people who misrepresent their identity and deliberately promote online arguments.)

More:
https://www.livescience.com/63416-twitter-bots-trolls-vaccine-debate.html