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02/27/2018: When bots attack
Feb 27, 2018

02/27/2018: When bots attack

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The war of disinformation is raging online, and bots are the foot soldiers. Bots are fake social media accounts that work together to amplify messages online. That’s how fake news started trending on social media during the 2016 presidential election. In response, U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller recently filed charges against a Russian organization called the Internet Research Agency that had hundreds of employees operating fake accounts during the election. Social media companies have also been trying to fight the army of bots on their platforms but without much luck. Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood spoke about bots, and who’s behind them, with Jonathon Morgan, CEO of New Knowledge, a company using artificial intelligence to protect companies from disinformation attacks.     

 

Segments From this episode

How social media bots can amplify fake news

The disinformation war is being waged online, but who's behind it?
Twitter announced a new effort to prioritize accessibility after garnering criticism from the rollout of a voice tweet feature this summer that didn't offer captioning.
Leon Neal/Getty Images

The war of disinformation is raging online, and bots are the foot soldiers. Bots are fake social media accounts that work together to amplify messages online. That’s how fake news started trending on social media during the 2016 presidential election. In response, U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller recently filed charges against a Russian organization called the Internet Research Agency that had hundreds of employees operating fake accounts during the election. Social media companies have also been trying to fight the army of bots on their platforms but without much luck. Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood spoke about bots, and who’s behind them, with Jonathon Morgan, CEO of New Knowledge, a company using artificial intelligence to protect companies from disinformation attacks.     

 

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