(Washington) Hundreds of pro-Russian “bots” are spreading false information about the Democratic candidate for the US presidential election, Kamala Harris, on computer programs, study finds.
Posted at 7:54 p.m.
In this study consulted by AFP and which will be published on Thursday, the American Sunlight Project (ASP) organization describes these accounts as “sleeper agents” since most have been active for several years and have escaped the moderation of the platform, bought in 2022 by billionaire Elon Musk, major supporter of former president and Republican candidate Donald Trump.
ASP analyzed more than 1,200 accounts whose profile and activity – more than 100 million publications between their creation and July 2024 – made it possible to associate them with robots.
These accounts massively distribute propaganda favorable to the Kremlin, content supporting Donald Trump and false information concerning his Democratic rival and the elections.
According to some publications, the candidate admitted that she would be a “puppet” at the mercy of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky if she were elected.
Others massively share false publications from Elon Musk, who claimed that Democrats brought “illegal” migrants to the United States to manipulate the outcome of the next presidential election.
These publications are scattered among others on sport or cryptocurrencies to better “disguise their objectives”.
“We were not surprised to find another pro-Russian bot network, but shocked to learn that some of the accounts in this network of sleeper agents have been active for more than ten years,” the co-founder of ASP Nina Jankowicz.
Former executive director of an official commission on disinformation, since deleted, she calls on X to dissolve this network. ASP was, however, unable to determine the entity behind these pro-Russian accounts.
Bots are key instruments in the Kremlin’s strategy to spread false information abroad, researchers say.
Access, now paid, to certain data on publications on X, which did not respond to requests from AFP, prevented researchers from determining its exact scope.
Before buying Twitter, which became X, Elon Musk promised “to defeat the robots or die trying”. He ultimately reduced the teams dedicated to moderation.
“Despite Elon Musk’s stated objectives to get rid of robots, they still exist on X, even when the networks are probably affiliated with states,” denounces Nina Jankowicz.
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