Socialbots whitewashing contested elections; a case study from Honduras

TL;DR

This paper investigates the role of socialbots in influencing public opinion during Honduras's contested elections, revealing distinct bot communities and their activity patterns.

Contribution

It introduces a methodology for detecting socialbot communities through temporal retweet analysis and applies it to a real-world election scenario.

Findings

Clear separation between human and bot accounts using Botometer

Identification of over one hundred socialbot communities

Detection of temporally coordinated retweet activity

Abstract

We analyze socialbots active tweeting in relation to Juan Orlando Hern\'andez, the recently re-elected president of Honduras. We find a clear bimodal separation between humans and bots, using Botometer and its classifiers. Around one hundred separate communities of socialbots are identified and visualized, detected through the analysis of temporally coordinated retweets.