American political activists on the left and the right are using networks of social media followers that behave like bots to rapidly spread conspiracy theories embraced by significant segments of the U.S. population, according to a new report by a research group.
The bogus claim that the attempt to assassinate Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, was staged and the lie that Haitian migrants were stealing and eating pets in Ohio were spread across social media platforms in a remarkably similar fashion. Both were spread by groups of linked accounts engaging in “coordinated, inauthentic behavior,” says the report, "The Botification of the Americans Mind," by Rutgers University’s Network Contagion Research Institute, or NCRI.
While such sophisticated disinformation tactics are often associated with foreign actors like Russia, Iran or China, the report highlights a troubling domestic trend: Americans themselves are deploying the techniques to spread malicious falsehoods designed to manipulate and polarize public opinion.
“It’s a concerning trend in American politics,” said Joel Finkelstein, a co-founder of NCRI. “You have tens of thousands of willing netizens who are amplifying this type of content. We spent a long time saying it’s the Russians, it’s the Chinese — it’s us.”
The report found that pro-Democratic activists using the hashtag #BlueCrew played a key role in spreading the discredited idea that the shooting of Trump in Butler was fake or staged.
NCRI identified 951 accounts that engaged in “coordinated inauthentic activity” associated with a pro-Harris campaign called #BlueCrew. Those accounts posted nearly 2 million times from July 10 to Oct. 10, “exhibiting behavior indicative of organized efforts to amplify specific narratives,” the report says, most notably the narrative that Trump was not shot.
In connection with the Haitian pets story, NCRI identified at least 473 pro-Trump accounts engaged in what researchers call “coordinated inauthentic behavior,” which posted 1.1 million times from July 10 to Oct. 10.
Researchers have repeatedly documented how propagandists have used automated accounts, or bots, to spread false narratives on social media.
Not all accounts that engage in coordinated inauthentic behavior are bots. Many are operated by real people. But researchers say the accounts are behaving in ways specifically designed to supercharge the spreading of narratives. NCRI found that the more accounts exhibited such traits, the more likely they were to be spreading conspiracy theories.
“The accounts we identified engaged in activities to inflate follower counts, posting lists of accounts to follow and encouraging reciprocal follows,” the report says. “Most of these accounts maintained a followers-to-following ratio close to 1. By sharing identical posts and using coordinated hashtags, they aimed to influence trending topics on social media platforms.”
NCRI conducted online surveys that found that 21% of Americans believe Haitians were eating pets, while 30% believe the attempt to assassinate Trump was staged.
“These highly inauthentic accounts are not just participating in the spread of misinformation; they are the primary drivers of content volume concerning these false narratives,” the NCRI report says. “Furthermore, these highly inauthentic accounts are not just participating in the spread of deceptive narratives; they appear to be a primary driver of their content volume.”
Just this week, accounts associated with #BlueCrew began spreading another false narrative — that House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had promised not to certify the presidential election if Vice President Kamala Harris wins. An account on X called @Judyree72400929 posted that MSNBC reported it, which is false.
The post was reposted nearly 10,000 times and viewed 2.7 million times. It drew a “readers add context” notification from X that MSNBC had reported no such claim.
In September, the same account shared a TikTok message asserting that the attempt to assassinate Trump “wasn’t real” and that it was a “photo opp.”
The @Judyree72400929 account did not respond to a request for a private conversation.
“These highly inauthentic accounts are not just participating in the spread of misinformation; they are the primary drivers of content volume concerning these false narratives,” the NCRI report says. “This means that a relatively small subset of orchestrated, inauthentic accounts is responsible for a disproportionately large share of the misleading information being circulated."
“Their concerted efforts amplify the reach and impact of these false narratives," the report adds, "effectively shaping the discourse and potentially influencing public perception on a wide scale.”
