Much of the online discourse around the Senate races in Texas and Kansas is coming from automated accounts, or bots, according to an analysis of nearly a million social media posts by Gudea, an online analytics company. Only about a quarter of discussion about the Kansas Senate matchup came from accounts specifically talking about the state, while the conversation was dominated by accounts also weighing in on the Texas race. Accounts posting about both states averaged four times as many Texas posts as Texas-only accounts, another red flag that bots were likely involved.
More than 85 percent of Texas discourse about James Talarico and Ken Paxton was composed of reshared posts. "That matters because real people are walking into a conversation where the table was already set," said Keith Presley, chief executive of Gudea. "Volume is easy to manufacture, and right now it gets read as public opinion."
Researchers found evidence of a coordinated network of hundreds of new accounts built in less than a week to spread a fabricated claim of misconduct against Mr. Talarico. The claim, which appeared online on Oct. 20, was reshared 12 times within 23 seconds. As it gained traction, 625 new accounts entered the conversation, sharing the claim 941 times in an hour before going dormant.
The circulation matches activity attributed to a Russian influence operation, Storm-1516. The Kremlin has sought to undermine public confidence and inject chaos into next week's elections via covert campaigns on social media.
Source: New York Times Business · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing