On the influence of social bots in online protests. Preliminary findings of a Mexican case study

TL;DR

This paper investigates how social bots influenced online protests by analyzing Twitter activity around the #YaMeCanse hashtag in Mexico, revealing that bots disrupted communication during the protest movement.

Contribution

It provides a preliminary case study on the role of social bots in a major Mexican protest, using bot detection tools to analyze their impact.

Findings

Bots played a critical role in disrupting online communication.

Social bots were highly active during the protest.

Preliminary evidence suggests significant influence of bots on the protest discourse.

Abstract

Social bots can affect online communication among humans. We study this phenomenon by focusing on #YaMeCanse, the most active protest hashtag in the history of Twitter in Mexico. Accounts using the hashtag are classified using the BotOrNot bot detection tool. Our preliminary analysis suggests that bots played a critical role in disrupting online communication about the protest movement.