Users are starting to use the word ‘bot’ as an insult in X, study finds

June 10 (Portaltic/EP) –

He Use of the word ‘bot’ is varying on social networks, which no longer refers to automated behavior to generate false activity on the platforms, but rather refers to used to dehumanize and insult other peopleabove all, in the social network (former Twitter), according to a study.

The word ‘bot’ is a term that comes from the word robot and refers to a program that performs repetitive, predefined and automated tasks. Likewise, applied to social networks, they are automated programs that They simulate human interaction on social networks.

That is, the ‘bots’ are displayed in fake accounts that generate activity on platforms such as fake likes or commentsThey can even follow other accounts or send ‘spam’. The use of these software programs can have consequences such as altering the interaction between users and hindering conversation.

In fact, Elon Musk’s own platform continually works to search ways to stop the use of useless ‘bots’with actions such as deleting all accounts that violate the rules against platform manipulation and spamin addition to considering paying a “small fee” to new users of the social network for publishing and interacting.

In this framework, until now, the common use of the word ‘bot’ was to refer to this type of automated programs on social networks, however, the Use of this term is evolving and users have started using ‘bot’ as a new insult towards other people on X.

This has been shared by a group of researchers from the Leibniz Institute of Social Sciences in Cologne (Germany), in the report titled ‘You’re a bot. Study the development of Bot accusations on Twitter‘ which, published in May of this year, collects users’ perception of the word ‘bot’ on a large scale and shows how this term has become an instrument of dehumanization in social media conversations.

Specifically, the study is based on a data set that is made up of accusations of ‘bots’ that have occurred on the Twitter platform since 2007 until December 2022, before the social network changed its name to X. The term ‘bot’ appeared in more than 22 million publications in English.

In this way, they have analyzed the meanings and contexts of these situations specific communication methods and, as a consequence, researchers have found evidence that, over time, the The term ‘bot’ has moved away from its technical meaning to become an “insult.”

Above all, users have started to use the word ‘bot’ more specifically to “polarizing discussions” and thus, discredit and dehumanize the opponent. This type of use has been identified since 2017 since, before this time, the word ‘bot’ was used in publications of accusations of automated behavior, referring to the use of ‘software’ or script.

However, it is from 2018 onwards that the use of the word ‘bot’ varies until it becomes an attempt to offend or insult, with which Users deny the intelligence of the profile they are referring to and try to prevent the user from participating in a conversationas explained by researcher Dennis Assenmacher and collected by the media News Scientist.

Likewise, the results of this study have indicated that users with Left-wing political tendencies have been more likely to accuse other users of being ‘bots’. In the same way, those most accused have been people with right-wing leanings. However, after investigation, The causes of this change in the concept of ‘bot’ have not been concluded. by the users of Elon Musk’s social network.