Bots and Trolls

This chapter unpacks the activity patterns of a group of 13,493 bot-like Twitter accounts that tweeted the Brexit referendum and disappeared from the platform shortly after the ballot. The Brexit Botnet comprises 5 per cent of the userbase that tweeted the referendum campaign, a group of users that was removed from the platform by Twitter moderators. The Brexit Botnet sheds considerable light on the weaponization of social media platforms that was central to the referendum campaign, while also exposing the role of algorithms in which bots feature as the most simple, cost-effective, and flexible approach to gaming the social media attention economy. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the policy developments in the aftermath of various congressional and parliamentary inquiries into foreign interference in national elections leveraging bots, trolls, and sockpuppet accounts to weaponize social media.