Chapter 13: Communications Media Accuracy

What We’ll Cover >>>

• Communications Media Concepts
• Digital Citizenship
• Information Accuracy
• Information Bias
• Information Integrity
• Information Bubbles
• Social Media
• Your Online Presence
• Reputation Management
• Special Concerns

This chapter will focus on the various ways that online communication and media affect perceptions of information, information integrity, and analysis/critical thinking.

Communications Media Concepts

Communications media includes anything that fosters, provides, and spreads information. In the context of this chapter and Internet fundamentals, we’ll consider topics that affect accuracy and bias of information, and reputation. Mediums include standard media sources, social media, info research, and personal profiles.

MedAttrib: researchleap.com (CC BY 4.0). Communications media.

Who are the players?

We are all the players in the world of communications and information. We have the data, we create and organize and distribute the data, and we often ARE the data.

• Controllers: The controllers of information are those that compile it, store it, and distribute it. This includes repositories like libraries, or public sector data warehouses for data analysis. It includes the owners of websites that present content to inform or push action – their own and content from contracted providers. It includes product and service providers that decide how marketing and advertising shapes public perception. It includes news and media outlets that report and inform the public.
• Customers: Customers provide much more information that they might expect. As discussed in an earlier chapter, all behaviors and actions of prospective and real customers is routinely collected, stored, and used for advertising, setting policy, prompting behaviors and actions, and pushing financial agendas.
• Users: Users of any computing and digital resources provide information by their actions, preferences, communications, downloads, info sharing, etc. Users can be students, employees, travelers, homeowners – essential people from any and every interest and lifestyle group.

Digital Citizenship

Digital citizenship refers to the responsible use of technology by anyone who uses computers, the Internet, and digital devices to engage with society on any level (CITE1).

That makes most of us digital citizens of some kind.

Positive digital citizenship: Users who are flexible, engaged, connected with one another, develop empathy with and for each other, and create lasting relationships with digital tools.

Damaging digital engager: Users who behave in antisocial ways – as predators, bullies, irresponsible social media generators, and users with reckless and unsafe Internet behaviors.

We’ve observed the results of damaging digital engagement. Misleading media stories, cyberbullying, data breaches, trolling on social media, influencers with little regard for the real people in the audience, hacking, etc.

In the end, all any technology user can do is work to themselves aim to be a positive digital citizen. This takes the effort of getting informed and using computing and Internet resources respectfully and, whenever possible, holistically:

• Developing empathy: Aim to understand motivations and situational awareness, rather than snapping to judgement and execution.
• Focusing on digital wellness: There IS a real life offline, and it IS possible to turn off the smartphone and dm tools. Live a little for oneself, without need for online attention or feedback.
• Making digital device usage secure: Do your own part to secure your devices/data and not create insecure situations for other users.
• Practicing digital and Internet literacy: Focus on accuracy and minimal bias in using and spreading information. Also respecting intellectual property.
• Recognizing the digital divide: Acknowledge and understand the disparity of users who don’t have the same access to technology, resources, or support for digital citizenship.
• Respecting and protecting user data: Avoid data mining for sales and/or malicious use, and for protecting one’s own data and reputation.

ACTION: Quick Task – Who are you as a digital player?

• Do you consider yourself a positive digital citizen?
• Are there areas you can improve your digital footprint in practicing your own digital literacy?
• Is it okay to make judgements about people and situations based only on what you get in an Internet communications media transaction?

Information Accuracy

Information accuracy is one of the most alarming casualties of the democratization effects of the Internet. What has become most alarming – especially to the generations before the daily use and push of all things Internet – is just how much information is inaccurate, biased, misrepresented, and misunderstood by people encountered in classrooms, social media, town halls, the workplace, and community spaces.

When discussions arise about polarized views, disparate values, and who is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ on an issue, a lack of information accuracy becomes apparent. Inaccurate info – based on unsubstantiated perception, ‘alternate facts,’ ‘personal truth’, and misleading language – leaves people unable to use critical thinking skills to recognize, express, address, and resolve problems. Instead, more problems arise, and people seem to retreat to separate corners of the room. Even more concerning is how much seems to happen in uneven power structures in which people depend on truthfulness and accuracy; the result questions who is in control of any given information and situation arising from it.

What does inaccurate information include?

• Agendas with alternate ‘truths’: basing decisions and/or actions on an agenda of control, rather than fully and accurately informed consent.
• Emotion-provoking language: headlines and presumptions of culpability that can stir fear, anger, angst, apathy, and damaging action.
• Fuzzy logic: overgeneralized standard logic which offers only a degree of truth.
• Gossip and opinion presented as fact: assumptions that people should act upon irresponsible use of free speech.
• Insubstantial arguments: straw-person or bipolar either-or arguments designed to box in perceived opposition.
• Lies and half-truths presented as facts: prompts for behavior and action based on deliberately false and misleading information.
• Misleading priorities: information prioritized to lead someone(s) to specific behaviors rather than to inform / debate accurate information.
• Not in Good Faith: The concept of ‘in good faith’ is that open and honest dealings yield sustainable results. Information not presented and articulated in good faith can lead to bad decisions.
• Replacement of facts and data with perceptions: used in challenging accepted and educated work and conclusions, and/or suggesting if one thing is still under consideration the entirely is false.
• Unattributed information: disrespect and ignorance of intellectual property.

How does a digital citizen treat information? How do we assess information accuracy, and analyze content to make more informed and empathic decisions? Here is a rather long list to consider, yet it needs to be recommended to information pass the ‘sniff text.’

• Authority/Reputation: This is considering the source. Does the source have a sustained history of minimal bias, of neutrality, of informing rather than trying to ‘convince’? Is there research, cited sourcing, and reference listing?
• Comparison of sources: Given neutrality and a solid reputation, does more than one source share similar core facts and information?
• Coverage: Is the coverage both targeted to the information/issue at hand, and still provide enough range to draw the full situation?
• Currency: Is the information current or contemporary to when the issue at hand was occurring?
• Integrity of data: Does the data and detail provided have integrity in treatment, range, and fact vs opinion? Is it balanced?
• Neutrality: Is the language used neutral, appropriate to the concepts and conventions of the subject at hand, and focused in informing rather than persuading?
• Objectivity: Does the treatment rely on objective content rather than assumptions or subjective opinion?
• Placement: How is the information placed? Is it part of a campaign? Is it surrounded by ads?
• Relevance: Is the content relevant to what needs to be presented; does it stay on track, and have a context and structure that supports the discussion?
• Researchability: Can the content be followed-up on? Are there accurate citations, attributions, and sources that can be fact-checked?
• Sustainability: Does the information meet the goals of the objective without sacrificing other needs and accuracy?
• Value: Does the information add value to a pool of knowledge needed for consideration and action? Or does it rehash and offer empty summaries of previous works?

ACTION: Quick Task – How do you confirm the accuracy of information you consume?

• Do you look at more than one source for news and event stories?
• Do you look at citations/ references in articles and online content to get more information?
• Can you determine if content language is dramatic and emotion-provoking?
• How do you determine the authority/reputation of the information source?

Information Bias

Information bias is a phrase used in various contexts, including research and science fields. In terms of cognitive thinking – like what this textbook is touching upon, information bias is a form of inaccuracy based on perceptions and belief systems, like prejudice or not having all the needed detail yet rushing to a decision. Information bias can fall into:

• Artificial construct: Misrepresent or ignore uncomfortable facts and details, which fashions an artificial context.
• Isolation: Calls out something that isn’t really relevant to the context of the subject.
• Invisibility: Excludes relevant and needed sourcing from content due to perceived lack of importance.
• Language: Language used to evoke specific responses and behaviors, often about a group of people or a perceived conflict.
• Selectivity: Presents only one interpretation of an issue, situation, or group. Not balanced.
• Shared information: A tendency for group members to focus on already familiar content and less time and energy dealing with the problem to be resolved.
• Stereotypes: Gives an objective set of characteristics to a selection/group instead of acknowledging nuances.

Information bias can lead consumers of data and information to focus on the wrong observations, details, and priorities. For instance, consider a discussion on “being offended” when it focuses on the language and assertiveness expressed in a discussion, instead of the actual issue that is at hand: the problem of too-expensive housing which left a large number of people homeless during Covid. The offensiveness is supposed to be the situation, not whether someone misspoke, misspelled in a chat comment, or spoke loudly and urgently from experience.

Some observations can help discern information bias in an article, online discussion, social media argument, etc.:

• Endorsement-directed
• Entertainment-slanted
• Extreme language and temperament
• Facts/ingredients belong to a product by a seller
• Frame with only selected info that pushes an agenda
• Ideologically/politically motivated
• One-sided/opinionated and unbalanced
• Persuasion-oriented
• Sales-oriented
• Sensationalized
• Sense of urgency / time limit
• Unknown expertise or authority
• Unsupported / generalized claims
• Source is advertising / sales-oriented

ACTION: Quick Task – What are your own information bias challenges?

• How do you know that news or information from a social media contact is unbiased and balanced?
• Do you consider information sources from different countries, perspectives, and coverage style?
• Can you tell the difference between established talking points and discussion-intended prompts?
• How do you feel about information if someone ties urgency and/or a time limit to act upon it?
• How do you determine if article content is neutral or pushed by sales/marketing?

Information Integrity

Information integrity is the dependability and trustworthiness of information and its sourcing. It should be accurate, reliable, and consistent so that it can be approached with critical thinking and enough detail for sustainable problem-solving. Aspects of information integrity include:

• Academic integrity: Honest, respectful, and responsible work derived from valid and attributed sources. Work is not reliant on cheating, copying, or false information.
• Attribution integrity: Giving proper attribution for any and all use of intellectual property, like quotes, examples, images, etc. Attribution should include citations, references, foot- and end-noting as appropriate. Not using copyrighted/patented/trademarked work or products without permission.
• Ethical integrity: “In good faith” presentation of content with balance, needed facts and data, and an aim to inform and help expand a pool of knowledge and opportunity.
• Intellectual integrity: Originality of work, research, discussion, and conclusions. Based on solid qualitative and quantitative information that can be reviewed. An example would be a research paper, a newspaper article. Variants include a novel, a music piece, a clothing design, a schematic, and other creative work derived from original skills, experience, and information.

Information Bubbles

Access to reliable information is a needed for the social contract of which people are a part. Information spreads quickly, and if without checks and balances in the moment, it can be polluted. People can respond based on mood, perceived urgency, or on what seems tribal or popular. It can result in division and conflict for little reason other than having been reacted upon without validating it and using critical thinking. This is an issue when information bubbles come into play.

MedAttrib: peerj.com, CC BY 4.0. Image of information bubbles.

An information bubble is the sphere of information that a person accesses. It can be curated by machine-learning algorithms that predict familiarity and preferences, based on a user’s past consumption and social network. It acts as a way to filter out what the user doesn’t consistently consume or look for, and leaves a user with a small pool of information that seems to cover most needs while actually being imbalanced and incomplete. Examples include a news aggregator that pulls stories from news sources leaning in a particular ideological direction, or songs only like those in a listener’s online playlist, or movie selections based on one or two categories that the viewer recently chose movies from.

On the Internet, social media and aggregators drive a lot of a user’s access to content. It gets automates based on algorithms using data from past purchases, browser searches, visited websites, social media activity, livestreams watched, etc. A bubble then recommends content, social media groups, specific products, particular resources, and the other users that offer them. However, it also can seem representative of overall reality, while leaving out a lot of diversity, detail, and richness.

Beating information bubbles

While it is useful and often necessary to limit the influx of information that demands attention, adding abundance and diverse choices in the content that enhances life is also useful. This means pushing past the familiar and standard, and being open to a vigorous range of options and content experience. How to start?

• Recognize what an information bubble is: It tends to be an imbalanced, one-size-fits all but based on your own preferences and past activity.
• Acknowledge when you are in one: If you feel caught in a rut with the same people, same viewpoints, same conflicts, and same decisions, it’s a good time to move away from the norm and consider what else you might also need.
• Take steps to exit it: This is as simple as looking for information that is different and varied from what you already consume. Look for additional sources and viewpoints. Add more voices of different perspectives in your social media. Do more real-life non-digital things too.
• Avoid getting into another bubble: With any new endeavor, there can be a honeymoon period when everything is exciting, before being tempted to relax and settle into a new normal of new familiar options and assumptions. Consider how you can break routine regularly, and keep enhancing and expanding what you experience in digital media.

ACTION: Quick Task – What is your own information bubble?

• Do you have a particular political identity that is the main focus of all your information about current events and legislation?
• Do you focus your daily information consumption on social media?
• What do you think the main 3-4 areas if interest are that your daily information relates to?

Social Media

Social media consists of online platforms that allow sharing and collaborating with an online community. A user can post, comment, upload and download items, and interacting with others in chat, live feeds, and in some cases online meeting.

• Attractions: Social media can have loads of pictures, memes, anecdotes, film clips, links to other media, news, satire of news, opinions, and feedback on any number of topics. It is immediate gratification, a way to check on friends, a place to connect with others with similar likes, an opportunity to argue and share insights, etc. You can get reminders, instant messages, links to other media, and invitations to like and/or participate on others’ pages and posts. You can be exposed to other ways of life, cultures, choices in products and experiences like restaurants, movies, games, and events.
• Consequences: It can also be addictive, prompting a need to check back repeatedly for feedback and perks. Friendships bloom fast and die even faster, with drama and user blocking. Users feel a need to ‘share’ everything, with strangers. And it is so instant, with so many people showing images and videos of aspects of their lives, a user can get bored with real life. Opinions and gossip are popular and dramatic, and feedback is rapid. Many don’t have any facial expressions or body language involved, so users can totally miss social cues, hurt feelings, misunderstandings, etc. Young users can tie social media opinions and bullying into their own sense of self worth.
• Ownership: Some social media platforms can try to lay claim to your own content – images, opinions, creative work you demoed, etc. They can try to establish that they own the right to your pictures of your pet or example of your own artistic sketch, because you distributed it on their platform.
• Privacy Issues: Social media platforms let you share details of life, family, work, travel, pets, etc. It can be easy to overshare, especially since when it goes online, it can be picked up and passed around and never go away. Your reputation, privacy, and security can be affected. Also, the default privacy settings may be too broad, allowing a larger audience than you might intend to have access to drunk pictures, snide comments, political views, confessions of workplace errors, etc. Imagine the setting being public enough that your boss can scrutinize your timeline and work-related comments? Oops!
• Security issues: Also, details that are public can be “scraped” (collected by software that also records the information). That data can show up elsewhere without your knowledge or permission. Recent stories indicate that hundreds of millions of users had fata scraped from LinkedIn and from Facebook.

Tips to minimize privacy issues:

• Avoid buying things through social media.
• Avoid sharing real information that could reveal security question answers.
• Don’t feed the trolls.
• Keep phone numbers, birthdate, address, and other trackable information private – or don’t list it at all.
• Limit how much of your personal information is public or shared.
• Limit the audience of your posts to friends; get off ‘public’
• Minimize details in your profile.

ACTION: Quick Task – Is Social Media your frenemy?

• How many daily/weekly social media sources do you participate in?
• How often daily do you check your favorite social media provider?
• How much of your real-life time do you capture and share with social media connections?
• Do you know that employers can probably see most of your social media presence – including your embarrassing moments, colored comments, and real opinions?
• If you could use your social media only a couple of times a week, for checking on only the real, important people you know, could you?

Trolling

Whether for drama, social awkwardness, or being a damaging digital engager, there are users who troll. Trolling is when a user focuses on upsetting others, while starting fights and provoking conflict. It may or may not be malicious in intent, but the result can be. The behavior can be bullying, racist, homophobic, argumentative, misogynistic, and/or spammy. Just like a Terminator, a troll “can’t be bargained with, it can’t be reasoned with, it doesn’t feel pity or remorse or fear, and it absolutely will not stop… EVER, until your head explodes!” CITE2

There is just one solution: Don’t feed the trolls. They can be ignored, quietly blocked, and otherwise removed from the posts/reaction cycle.

Your Online Presence

Compiled online data about each of us creates a representation of who we seem to be. This online presence is taken in by employers, friends, community, government, advertisers, news media, social media contacts, and disruptors. Some is for our convenience, some is to push purchasing or social behavior, some is to build socio-economic demographics data, and some is unpredicted consequences of social media and our interactions.

Most of the data is pulled from sources a user doesn’t consider or have deep awareness of. Everything you do in the digital world is captured, shared, sold, sorted, stored, analyzed, and used, and has been with increasing frequency over the past twenty years. Everyone seems to have a piece of you.

Moreover, much of the data seems hidden, fixed, and to be assembled and analyzed in ways that remove you as a person and reframe you as ‘material.’

Sources of information

• Activities: Browser searches, website visits, clicks, uploads and downloads, preferences, information bubble, blogs, forum posts, gaming, comments and reviews, cookies, website policies agreements.
• Collateral contact: Mentions of you by others, other people’s streams and photos, wrong place at wrong time, news media, accidents, group activities, presence in online meetings and workshops, facial recognition, being a witness
• Computing devices: Computer usage and connections with websites, email, services, website cookies, wireless home, smartphone, fitness and apps, passwords.
• Demographic captures: Employment applications, demographic questions, health care access, big data.
• Life experience: Education history, work history, classmates, dating, trainings, travel, accomplishments (creative, professional), law-related incidents, political affiliations, medical care, consumed films / books / music.
• Professional networking: Work-related groups and trainings, workplace activities, professional profile, resume, skills-building, student loans and grants.
• Purchasing/financial: Browsing products, purchases, online banking, credit card, credit scores, car-research and licensing, taxes, healthcare, fitness, home-related needs.
• Social media: Interactions with any social media comments, posts, images, livestreams, gaming, commentary and reviews, trolling, dating, political groups, selfies.

MedAttrib: “Social media dataflows” by Anne Helmond is licensed under a CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Reputation Management

As part of the hiring process for many companies, a Human Resources (HR) department surveys the online presence of potential job applicants. A top candidate may not be offered a job after their online presence has been searched.

An opportunity for being published, included in a valuable workshop, renting an apartment, being considered for a loan, getting decent loan rates, or having your expertise taken seriously can be affected by online data and reputation.

In addition, during legal proceedings like being under suspicion, being arrested, being a potential witness, and even being a victim can be influenced by your online reputation. So can travel, especially outside your own country of residence.

Personal reputation is like personal hygiene, where you define your own life. Consider searching your own name using a search engine and notice what you find. This will usually be surface-level information, and that which prospective employers, lenders, and other professionals can discover.

Your surface-level presence and reputation will likely have many quirks, most of which are situational and easily dismissed or not even noticed. However, some things can rise, like bad behavior, unprofessional dealings, a noticeable mistake, involvement in a publicized event, and/or a general disadvantaging angle to your overall online presence. What options do you have? What can you do?

Here are a few tips – not all inclusive, and with some in need of work on your part to find reputable, current, and of-value tools.

• It is what it is: A useful axiom to add to your life is: 99% of everything that happens to you, with you, around you, and even seemingly catalyzed by you, is not ABOUT you. The world moves in a blur around us, and we have very little control over anything not in our immediate sphere of influence. Everything else is just out there, and stressing about it, being angry, or committing to ‘disappearing’ likely won’t enrich your life. This pertains mostly to big data and you as a commodity. Accept what is and move forward.
• Identify weaknesses and gaps: Learning more about life as a digital citizen is one way to recognize problems that combine to influence your own online identity. Gaps to be shored up include understanding how social media and other communications are not your “friend.” That any purchasing/financial-oriented activity is not about serving and valuing you but about someone else’s bottom line. That falling for your conveniences is a big part of what has made you a product and consumer, rather than a customer, website visitor, patient, friend, etc. That being involved in ‘influencing’ doesn’t make someone really influential to 99% of the entities that really matter in life. Dealing with the weaknesses comes from identifying your computing device habits and lack of security; how you choose to interact with websites and entities that provide products and services, and your own social communications and activities.
• Minimize continued data leaks: Secure your computing devices and practice regular, consistent, and effective habits that you control. Retreat from having a lot of accounts and social interactions while selecting a very valued few and monitoring them regularly. Turn off cameras, microphones, and smartphones expect for deliberate and necessary use. Use strict security settings on accounts, and avoid using information from your real life as identifiers, passwords, and security answers.
• Change the narrative: You can’t change any demographic, shopping, or past activity. You can refocus on what is really important and invest time and energy into that. Are you a student? Work with student and career-related activities that help design the impressions you want to move forward with. Employee? Focus on upskilling and professional behavior/connections, rather than binges of ‘weekend in Vegas’ behavior in social media circles. Like music / films / reading? Add thoughtful reviews, discussions, meet authors/creators, and become a presence people value.
• Develop a personal profile: Create and routinely manage your own single-source web page profile about yourself. Include authenticity, a careful resume, information you want people to know, updates on your education and professional accomplishments, and a link to an ePortfolio; this may be a self promotion piece but promote your value, not your opinions or fluff. If you don’t want your own web page, look for a reputable professional network that lets you do that instead, and use strict privacy and security settings. LinkedIn has been around for years and may serve as an option.
• Create a lifelong ePortfolio: It is never too late to develop an ePortfolio of the accumulation of your education, work, and accomplishments. It should be a collection of work (evidence) in an electronic format that showcases learning and accomplishment over time. Link it to your resume, your online profile, and whatever professional network you participate in.
• Manage information routinely and consistently: Beyond minimizing continued data leaks, learn how to manage your own reputation. Look into well-established and vetted online reputation management sources and their tips/advice (not necessarily their services or paid options); some privacy and security software options may also include reputation management options. When you develop an online profile / ePortfolio / professional network presence, learn how to direct search engine results to go there first. Find out what is in public records about you and determine what can be removed. If something bad is mentioned about you, take the high road and be gracious while firmly setting the record straight – if the situation is something that can’t be just ignored. Stop trying to influence with opinions and build real expertise to contribute to non-digital community. Remove damaging / unhelpful images, clips, comments, and other social media problems from your own account. Be consistent and professional in all your future interactions. Consider deleting and restarting a social media account fresh, and stick to just one or two really valued ones. Much less is more.
• Manage information routinely and consistently: Beyond minimizing continued data leaks, learn how to manage your own reputation. Look into well-established and vetted online reputation management sources and their tips/advice (not necessarily their services or paid options); some privacy and security software options may also include reputation management options. When you develop an online profile / ePortfolio / professional network presence, learn how to direct search engine results to go there first. Find out what is in public records about you, and consider what can be removed. If something bad is listed about you, take the high road and be gracious while firmly setting the record straight – if the situation is something that can’t be just ignored. Remove damaging / unhelpful images, clips, comments, and other social media problems from your own account. Be consistent and professional in all your future interactions. Consider deleting and restarting a social media account fresh, and stick to just one or two really valued ones. Much less is more.
• Live out loud: All this being considered, LIVE! Rebalance life between real activity and the allure of being digital. Shut things off, get out and live without selfies and livestreams. Be a person who lives first, has fun just for fun, and explore new places, taste new food, go for drives and walks, and pet-sit. Explore more culture and other cultures, groups, hobbies, skills-building, contributions, civic participation, etc. You do you.

ACTION: Quick Task – Do you know what your online reputation really is?

• What are the first 5 search results about you that come up in an online search for you?
• If a prospective employer looks you up as part of a pre-interview process, would they actually choose to interview and maybe hire you?
• How much personal data do you put out yourself that others could use to crack your passwords and personal identifiers?
• Have you made a practice of creating and maintaining a balanced and proactive online reputation/portfolio?

Special Concerns

Bots and information

A web robot (robot, bot) is a software app that completes automated tasks (scripts) over the Internet. Internet bots mimic human activity, like messaging, but on a large scale. A bot acts in a client-side role, and performs automated simple repetitive tasks much faster people can.

IMAGE NEEDED

• Censorbots: Some bots act as censors for profanity. Some use pattern matching to help translate conversation attempts. Some are part of algorithms used in social media apps to block – or promote – certain communications.
• Chatbots: Bots that perform instant messaging tasks, like the automated chat on a retail or tech site Depending on their programming and the complexity of customer-needed assistance, bots may be the entire chat option, or the entry point to guiding the user to a live person for more extensive assistance.
• Malbots: Bots have been used to carry out denial-of-service attacks. They can execute click fraud, generate spam, and attempt to register on sites (a reason for CAPTCHA protection). They can scrape data from websites for incorrect use or sale. They can redirect users to malicious sites.
• Socialbots: Algorithms that imitate human behaviors to converse with patterns similar human user. Users might think they are talking with other users in a social media conversation, and not be. Botnets (collection of malware infected bots) allow a computer to be remotely controlled by an external operator
• Viewbots: Bots created to “watch” videos or live streams, which affects the number of live view counts, channel statistics, and the perception that the program is more influential than it is. A staple of driving unreal messaging perceptions and ‘fake news.’
• Web crawling: Bots ‘crawl’ the web when a user queries a search engine. An automated script (the bot) fetches, analyzes and files information from web servers, then returns the results to the user.

Recent issue: USA Presidential elections

Were bots influential in social media? Currently, insufficient resources seem to be available to fact-check how much social media activity was politically programmed bot-generated. The concept is that bots were programmed with search filter capabilities that targeted keywords and phrases that favored political agendas, then repeated and spread them. This could have contributed to additional polarization and volatility of social media users, arguments, and possibly influence of votes.