Examining IRA Bots in the NFL Anthem Protest: Political Agendas and Practices of Digital Gatekeeping

Abstract

With the understanding that the mass-participated mechanism of social media has led to an evolved lens of gatekeeping, this study incorporates the framework of digital gatekeeping to examine activities of Internet Research Agency (IRA) bots in the Twitter sphere of the National Football League anthem protest. To do so, the investigation employed data of IRA bots released from Clemson University. We conducted analysis by approaching bots’ gatekeeping activities from three perspectives: the overall behavioral patterns, the discourses and underpinning ideologies, and communicative tactics to sustain attention on Twitter. The results revealed that the majority of tweets came from the right trolls and left trolls. Meanwhile, the activity level of the bots displayed high sensitivity to emergent political events. Importantly, the two types of bots orchestrated a gatekeeping agenda that propelled antagonistic, hyperpartisan politics. The right-wing trolls’ tweets, in particular, propagated pro-White, malicious propaganda infiltrated with fake news. The results yield meaningful implications for digital gatekeeping, social media’s complex roles in knowledge production related to athlete protest, and sport’s engagement in broader political struggles in today’s mediated culture.

Social Media and Sport Studies (2014–2023): A Critical Review

“…By implication, the scholarship is transitioning from a basic understanding and categorization of social media's usage, features, and adoption to a deeper examination of impacts in the sport industry, as well as its broader implications for society. This transition is evident in the exploration of various studies conducted in the past 5 years within the field, such as mental health (Chen & Kwak, 2023), religion (Ahmad & Thorpe, 2020), gender (Kavasoğlu & Koca, 2022), race (Kilvington & Price, 2019), activism (Bunch & Cianfrone, 2022), national identity (Humayun, 2023), free speech , protests (Yan et al, 2021), and online harassment (Demir & Ayhan, 2022).…”

“…The following are some examples:Lim et al (2020) examined how the level of humility expressed through athletes' social media postings and post volume is associated with the athletes' in-game performance;Kavasoğlu et al (2023) attempted to understand how Turkish female athletes who are active on Instagram experience cyber violence, the cultural context of that violence, and the ways in which athletes negotiate and struggle with violence; Geurin (2023) examined the social media education provided by national governing bodies of sport; Ahmad and Thorpe (2020) explored the ways Muslim sportswomen are using social media to challenge stereotypical representations and to build community; andYan et al (2021) investigated activities of Internet Research Agency bots in the Twitter sphere of the NFL anthem protest.…”

Fair Go? Indigenous Rugby League Players and the Racial Exclusion of the Australian National Anthem

“…By virtue of this analysis, this study adds to a wider body of literature around the (re-emerging) trend of athlete activism and, in our case, national anthem protests. Athlete activism, which draws attention to social justice issues and associated movements, has increasingly been examined from a communication perspective (see Colás, 2016; Park et al, 2019; Rugg, 2019; Schmidt et al, 2019; Yan et al, 2019). This study contributes to that body of literature by examining how symbolic protests may be communicated by a combination of silence, (lack of) gesture, and voice.…”