Two-thirds of links to popular websites are shared by Twitter bots, analysis suggests
But the report states there is no evidence to suggest the bots have a political bias in their sharing activities.
Around two-thirds of links to popular websites shared on Twitter come from automated accounts, according to an analysis by a US research centre.
But the report, from Pew Research Center, states there is no evidence to suggest that the bots have a political bias in their sharing activities.
The news comes after concerns were raised that bots may have played a role in spreading fake news and misinformation across social media platforms like Twitter or Facebook.
A Twitter bot is a software programme designed to send out automated posts on Twitter. The programme can specify bots to perform autonomous tasks such as tweeting, link-tweeting, retweeting, liking, following, unfollowing or direct messaging other accounts.
The researchers analysed around 12 million English-language tweets over a six-week period in 2017 – but said they did not evaluate whether those bots are controlled from inside or outside the US.
They used a list of 2,315 of the most popular websites – which included media outlets, websites belonging to groups or organisations, as well as adult content sites.
Overall, the results showed that 66% of the tweeted links in each category were shared by automated accounts rather than human users.
Of the types of content being shared, bots accounted for around 90% of links to adult content, 76% of links to sports content and 66% of links to news and current events.
To identify bots, the centre used a tool known as Botometer, developed by researchers at the University of Southern California and Indiana University.
The centre said it did not look at the truthfulness of the content, or whether bots sharing the links were “good” or “bad”.
It also said it did not assess whether the links shared by the bots led to human engagement.
