Thousands of U.S.-Based Twitter Bots Boost Trump, Criticize Haley, DeSantis

Thousands of automated bot accounts on Twitter have worked over the last eleven months to boost former president Donald Trump and attack his critics and 2024 competition, according to a new report.

Cyabra, an Israeli tech firm, told the Associated Press it discovered a network of fake accounts that appear to have been created within the U.S. by an unknown entity.

The bots have targeted former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, who is running against Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, as well as Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who is widely seen as Trump’s most formidable 2024 opponent despite having not yet joined the race.

Researchers say hundreds of thousands of bots across three different networks of Twitter accounts could be involved. The accounts were created in April, October and November 2022, according to the report. Researchers used patterns in an account’s profile along with its follower list and posts to identify bots, which usually post “repetitive content about the same topics,” according to the report.