Episode details
Available for over a year
'Social bots' are pieces of software which aim to mimic human behaviour on social media to sway support towards, or away, from political candidates or parties. The 'bots' were used heavily during the 2016 US Presidential election, and last week the German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for a debate on how to tackle the spread of 'social bots' and fake news online. Damon Damon spoke to Thomas Jarzombek, spokesman for the digital agenda of the CDU-CSU parliamentary group, and Dr. Alison Powell, Assistant Professor of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics. He began by asking Alison to outline some of the uses for social 'bots'. (Photo: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Credit: Getty Images)
Programme Website