Screening Out Social Bots Interference: Are There Any Silver Bullets?

Social networks are a primary source of news and information that can be steered, distorted, and influenced. Recent scandals such as the one involving Cambridge Analytics proved that social media users are prone to such direct manipulation. Among the weapons available to perform these anti-democracy attacks, Social Bots are beyond question the most powerful one. These autonomous entities constitute coordinated armies that sneakily manipulate and deceive real users. Thus, our research identifies five major challenges that the research community needs to face toward tackling Social Bots activities in four individual but comparable scenarios. To address these key challenges, we propose, elaborate, and evaluate a mix of remedies in the form of a proof-of-concept platform combining the agility of artificial intelligence with the expertise of human analysts to detect and shield against Social Bots interference.

Do You Feel in Control of What You See on Social Media?

Undoubtedly, social networks constitute a cornerstone for massive information sharing, and their popularity renders them an impactful means of forming public opinion. To some extent, these social platforms have changed our lives; anything that happens in the digital world also affects real life. For example, the recent scandal of Cambridge Analytics made clear how social media (SM) big data can be used to affect physical events. SM have, in fact, evolved in a way where over two-thirds of U.S. residents are actively interacting with news in social networks instead of classic mass media [1].