NATO: 60% of Russian-speaking Twitter users who write about the Alliance in the Baltic States are bots
NATO's Strategic Communications Center of Excellence reports that 60% of Russian-speaking Twitter users are bots, according to the Center, which was founded in Riga, Latvia, The Voice of America reports.
"Russian-speaking bots create about 70% of all Russian NATO reports in the Baltic States and Poland. In general, 60% of active Russian-speaking accounts are automated. In comparison, 39% of account tweeting in English are bots,” the report notes.
The research notes that its conclusions are based on an analysis of Twitter data, concerning the military activities in the Baltic countries and Poland.
"This compilation is not representative of Twitter in general. The conclusions may be different in other media platforms," the report notes.
"Political actors use bot accounts in the social media space to manipulate public opinion about regional geopolitics. According to our estimate, such accounts produced 5–15% of the activity about the NATO presence in Latvia and Estonia in the period March–July 2017. Bot-generated messages differ depending on the target audience. Messages aimed at the West suggested that Russian exercises pale in comparison with NATO operations. Messages targeted to the domestic audience rarely mentioned the Russian exercises," the document note