Apparently at least one Republican in a state level race used twitter bots as a propaganda tool. Perhaps Democrats are doing it as well, but so far I've been unable to find any reports of same. I suppose that could be taken by some as evidence of a left wing media bias. Better yet, make it about how the sources for the story are anonymous, then point out that it's not illegal.
'Exclusive: Bots spread propaganda to influence high-stakes Washington state race, researchers say'
Bots and other suspicious social media accounts were used in an apparent attempt to influence voters in a heavily funded Washington state Senate race that could tip the balance of political power in the Western United States, according to a report from a non-partisan group of experienced cybersecurity researchers.
The report, which the researchers provided to GeekWire today, cites extensive evidence that suspicious Twitter accounts have been advancing attacks against Manka Dhingra, a Democrat running against Republican Jinyoung Englund in Washington’s 45th District, which includes parts of Kirkland, Redmond and Sammamish as well as other cities in the suburbs east of Seattle. After GeekWire reported on the suspicious Twitter activity, a former volunteer for Dhingra alerted us to fake accounts on Facebook as well.
The researchers behind the report, whose identities and credentials are known to GeekWire, declined to be identified publicly, saying that their broader investigation into “computational propaganda” in the U.S. and around the world would be compromised as a result.
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In their report about the 45th District, the researchers say that almost 10 percent of accounts tweeting about Englund and Dhingra over the past 30 days were classified as bots, accounts that use automation to spread messages on Twitter. “There is evidence of coordinated activity among the suspicious accounts tweeting aggressively against Manka,” the researchers write.
There’s no evidence of any illegal activity, in part because lawmakers haven’t caught up to the new ways social media is being used to spread disinformation.
The report does not identify any people or groups suspected of orchestrating the social media activity in the pivotal Washington state Senate race. However, the researchers point to the broader influence of corporate donors on the 45th District campaign.
“Funders on both sides have run divisive ads, but the fear-mongering tone of advertisements against Dhingra and exploitation of wedge issues from right-wing funders have been particularly overt this cycle,” they write in the report. “Englund’s campaign has also taken money and received support from organizations that have a documented track record of divisive and sometimes misleading campaign tactics, from big oil and big tobacco to the Koch Industries.”
Incidentally, the Democratic candidate Manka Dhingra won the seat.
