An analysis by a Republican social media marketing company revealed an army of automated bots targeting Texas state Rep. Dustin Burrows during his campaign for House Speaker. The bots spread negative messages and attempted to create the illusion of widespread opposition to Burrows, who ultimately won the election. The findings raise concerns about the use of bots to manipulate public opinion in political races.
An army of automated bots mobilized late last year to attack state Rep. Dustin Burrows on social media as the Lubbock Republican campaigned in a hotly contested race to become the next speaker of the Texas House, according to a data analysis prepared by a Republican social media marketing company and shared with Hearst Newspapers.
Texas House elects Dustin Burrows as speaker, rebuffing far-right challenge Kelly Pietropaoli, the president of Switchgrass Social, said she noticed a large spike in negative comments on Burrows’ X posts and had her company’s data analysts check it out. From thousands of online accounts, the firm drew a sample of about 900 and analyzed their posts.
Who is Dustin Burrows? Here's what to know about the new Texas House speaker. Switchgrass has not been hired by Burrows or Cook, Pietropaoli said and campaign finance reports show. Neither lawmaker responded to a request for comment on the findings, and no one has been accused of any criminal wrongdoing. Burrows won the speaker’s race 85 to 55 with support from a coalition of House Democrats and Republicans.
BOT ATTACKS SOCIAL MEDIA TEXAS POLITICS ELECTION INTEGRITY POLITICAL DISCOURSE
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