Bots, reality shows and Greek political parties: Tracking bots and their political propaganda in Greece

Abstract

The use of twitter bots in political campaigns and influence operations has come increasingly under the academic and journalistic limelight. In this study, we present the first data-driven journalistic investigation on the presence of bots on the Greek twittersphere that amplify political messaging of the main Greek political parties. We focused on two periods of high political and brand social media activity, the Thessaloniki International Fair (DETH) and the final of the reality show Greece's Next Top Model. Using an ensemble of algorithmic and visualization tools and classifiers, about 3.968 accounts were annotated on their political orientation and level of automation.