A new study has found that disinformation and hate spread by ten “bot-like” accounts on the social media platform X have reached an audience of more than 150 million including those in the UK.
The study also found that nine of these bot-like accounts focus on UK politics, while one targets US politics and the UK royal family.
The investigation, conducted by the non-governmental organization (NGO) Global Witness, highlights the extent of the influence wielded by these accounts in shaping online discourse.
The accounts in question have disseminated over 60,000 posts since May 22. These posts, often containing extreme hate speech, disinformation, conspiracy theories, and admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin, have had an estimated reach of 150 million views.
Global Witness’s investigation underscores the potency of these bot-like accounts in spreading harmful content across social media.
The content shared by these accounts is troubling. It includes messages promoting Islamophobia, antisemitism, homophobia, and transphobia.
Among the misinformation propagated are claims that climate change is a “hoax,” vaccines have caused a “genocide,” and that Putin is “the greatest president ever.”
These narratives are not only divisive but also dangerous, fueling hatred and undermining public trust in science and governance.
Global Witness identified these bot-like accounts by searching hashtags related to migration and climate change, such as #welcomerefugees, #migration, and #stoptheboats.
The NGO considers an account “bot-like” if it exhibits three or more red flags. These red flags include high-frequency posting, handles ending in a long string of numbers, and the absence of a profile picture that appears to be of the person running the account.
Bot-like Accounts Generates Massive Content
The ten accounts flagged by Global Witness have been prolific in their activity. Each has had days where they posted more than 200 times, and some have exceeded 500 posts in a single day.
Collectively, they have generated around 60,000 posts since the election was called. This volume of content significantly amplifies their influence, reaching and potentially swaying a vast audience.
This account was discovered through searches using UK-related hashtags. Among the accounts, two promoting the hashtag #stoptheboats urged people to vote for Reform UK, while five accounts using #labourlosing also promoted Reform UK.
One account identified had “MBGA” (Make Britain Great Again) alongside “MAGA” (Make America Great Again) and anti-migrant hashtags in its bio.
This account reposts anti-migrant, transphobic, and far-right content while supporting Reform UK. It has shown an alarming capacity for volume, posting nearly 600 tweets in a single day and increasing its activity by over 50% since the election was called.
Another account described itself as pro-Palestine, pro-environment, and supportive of the NHS, regularly posting anti-Conservative Party memes and targeting Nigel Farage.
Despite these findings, Global Witness stated there is no evidence to suggest that any UK political party is funding, using, or promoting these bot accounts as part of their election campaigns.
Ava Lee, campaign leader at Global Witness, commented on the findings, stating, “Political discussion online is often toxic – we all know that.”
“But when we go on social media, we believe we’re seeing what real people think. While we might not agree with it, we trust that what we see are genuine views held by other voters.
“When that’s not true, when the conversation may have been influenced by someone who has paid for bots to spread division or to get a particular party into power, our democracy is in jeopardy.”
Ava Lee
As Lee concluded, “X, and all social media companies, need to clean up their platforms and put our democracies before profit.”
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