Terror Machines: Social Bots in Struggles for Hegemony in Digital Publics

Abstract

This essay will elaborate upon the ambivalences of unreliable communication on social networks, using the case study of social bots. Social bots simulate human users in social networks. If they do not give any indication that they are machines, they can be classified as fake accounts. Social bots can be considered opinion robots as they are used strategically to influence discussions on social networks. What users see on their screens today when they consume news portals, social networks and online platforms corresponds to precarious in_visibility. Bots are the expression of a new kind of visibility politics as they flood the online communication spaces with their highly visible content, interests, and preferences, simulating public opinions and popular trends, while making their technical origin and identity invisible.What is the significance of social bots in the development of digital society when the boundaries between the human and the technical dissolve? A computer-based intelligence and media literacy is required that is not only able to eliminate bots, but also develops the reflective ability to consider machine-based communication and artificial intelligence as a factor of the digital society.

Keywords

• bots
• digital publics
• public opinion
• social bots
• social networks