Investigating coordinated account creation using burst detection and network analysis.

ABSTRACT: Democracies around the world face the threat of manipulation of their electorates via coordinated online influence campaigns. Researchers have responded by developing valuable methods for finding automated accounts and identifying false information, but these valiant efforts often fall into a cat-and-mouse game with perpetrators who constantly change their behavior. This has forced several researchers to go beyond the detection of individual malicious actors by instead identifying the coordinated activity that propels potent information operations. In this vein, we provide rigorous quantitative evidence for the notion that sudden increases in Twitter account creations may provide early warnings of online information operations. Analysis of fourteen months of tweets discussing the 2020 U.S.

SUBMITTER: Bellutta D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9913025 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature