The “Russian bots” between social and technological

Examining the ordinary folk theories of Twitter users

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6443373
AutoresD M Obreja (0000-0001-6146-8721, University of Bucharest, Romania, autor de correspondencia)
Año2024
Volumen27
Número10
Páginas5622-5639
Fecha de publicación2024-05-27
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaNew Media & Society (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1461-4448 • E-ISSN: 1461-7315
EditorialSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/14614448241255692
OpenAlexW4399054110
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas25

The bots’ activity is already frequently documented in the literature, and the war between Russia and Ukraine accentuated this scholarly interest for users’ sensemaking. Applying folk theories framework on 56 semi-structured interviews with users who tweet about “Russian bots,” I examine how bots might be understood as structural-computational entities, with complex roles in shaping digitally mediated realities. Findings reveal several theories associated with Russian bots. First, participants believe that these bots actively endorse users’ political enemies, which are mainly politicians from the participants’ countries. Second, such bots are considered to increase animosities between users, as participants actively unfollow their peers on Twitter and unfriend them in real life, based on their opinions regarding the war in Ukraine. Third, bots boost users’ digital activity, given the fact that participants consider them responsible for artificially increasing the popularity of certain accounts or, on the contrary, for systematic and aggressive attacks against others

Internet privacy · Social media · Sociology · World Wide Web · Computer Science · Media, Religion, Digital Communication · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Social Media and Politics