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Why Botter: How Pro-Government Bots Fight Opposition in Russia

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  • STUKAL, DENIS
  • SANOVICH, SERGEY
  • BONNEAU, RICHARD
  • TUCKER, JOSHUA A.

Abstract

There is abundant anecdotal evidence that nondemocratic regimes are harnessing new digital technologies known as social media bots to facilitate policy goals. However, few previous attempts have been made to systematically analyze the use of bots that are aimed at a domestic audience in autocratic regimes. We develop two alternative theoretical frameworks for predicting the use of pro-regime bots: one which focuses on bot deployment in response to offline protest and the other in response to online protest. We then test the empirical implications of these frameworks with an original collection of Twitter data generated by Russian pro-government bots. We find that the online opposition activities produce stronger reactions from bots than offline protests. Our results provide a lower bound on the effects of bots on the Russian Twittersphere and highlight the importance of bot detection for the study of political communication on social media in nondemocratic regimes.

Suggested Citation

  • Stukal, Denis & Sanovich, Sergey & Bonneau, Richard & Tucker, Joshua A., 2022. "Why Botter: How Pro-Government Bots Fight Opposition in Russia," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 116(3), pages 843-857, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:116:y:2022:i:3:p:843-857_6
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    Cited by:

    1. Sergei Guriev & Daniel Treisman, 2019. "Informational Autocrats," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 33(4), pages 100-127, Fall.
    2. Morrison, Kelly & Savun, Burcu & Donno, Daniela & Davutoglu, Perisa, 2023. "Competing Verdicts: Multiple Election Monitors and Post-Election Contention," Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, Working Paper Series qt3kc4f57j, Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, University of California.
    3. Boitani, Andrea & Dragomirescu-Gaina, Catalin, 2023. "News and narratives: A cointegration analysis of Russian economic policy uncertainty," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    4. Aviv, Itzhak & Ferri, Uri, 2023. "Russian-Ukraine armed conflict: Lessons learned on the digital ecosystem," International Journal of Critical Infrastructure Protection, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).

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