Dataset Information

Bots increase exposure to negative and inflammatory content in online social systems.

ABSTRACT: Societies are complex systems, which tend to polarize into subgroups of individuals with dramatically opposite perspectives. This phenomenon is reflected-and often amplified-in online social networks, where, however, humans are no longer the only players and coexist alongside with social bots-that is, software-controlled accounts. Analyzing large-scale social data collected during the Catalan referendum for independence on October 1, 2017, consisting of nearly 4 millions Twitter posts generated by almost 1 million users, we identify the two polarized groups of Independentists and Constitutionalists and quantify the structural and emotional roles played by social bots. We show that bots act from peripheral areas of the social system to target influential humans of both groups, bombarding Independentists with violent contents, increasing their exposure to negative and inflammatory narratives, and exacerbating social conflict online. Our findings stress the importance of developing countermeasures to unmask these forms of automated social manipulation.

SUBMITTER: Stella M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6298098 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Bots increase exposure to negative and inflammatory content in online social systems.

Stella Massimo M Ferrara Emilio E De Domenico Manlio M

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20181120 49

Societies are complex systems, which tend to polarize into subgroups of individuals with dramatically opposite perspectives. This phenomenon is reflected-and often amplified-in online social networks, where, however, humans are no longer the only players and coexist alongside with social bots-that is, software-controlled accounts. Analyzing large-scale social data collected during the Catalan referendum for independence on October 1, 2017, consisting of nearly 4 millions Twitter posts generated ...[more]

PMID: 30459270

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Project description:Inflammation, part of the body's innate immune response, can lead to "sickness behaviors," as well as alterations in social and affective experiences. Elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines have been associated with increased neural sensitivity to social rejection and social threat, but also decreased neural sensitivity to rewards. However, recent evidence suggests that inflammation may actually enhance sensitivity to certain social rewards, such as those that signal support and care. Despite a growing interest in how inflammation influences neural reactivity to positive and negative social experiences, no known studies have investigated these processes in the same participants, using a similar task. To examine this issue, 107 participants were randomly assigned to receive either placebo or low-dose endotoxin, which safely triggers an inflammatory response. When levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines were at their peak, participants were scanned using fMRI while they received positive, negative, and neutral feedback from an "evaluator" (actually a confederate) about how they came across in an audio-recorded interview. In response to negative feedback (vs. neutral), participants in the endotoxin condition showed heightened neural activity in a number of threat-related neural regions (i.e., bilateral amygdala, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex) and a key mentalizing-related region (i.e., dorsomedial PFC), compared to placebo participants. Interestingly, when receiving positive feedback (vs. neutral), endotoxin (vs. placebo) led to greater neural activity in the ventral striatum and ventromedial PFC, regions often implicated in processing reward, as well as greater activity in dorsomedial PFC. Together, these results reveal that individuals exposed to an inflammatory challenge are more "neurally sensitive" to both negative and positive social feedback, suggesting that inflammation may lead to a greater vigilance for both social threats and social rewards.

Dataset Information

Bots increase exposure to negative and inflammatory content in online social systems.

Publications

Bots increase exposure to negative and inflammatory content in online social systems.

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