by Mike Orcutt, Technology Review
The top contenders in Mexico’s presidential campaign are engaged in a Twitter spam war, with armies of “bots” programmed to cast aspersions on opposing candidates and disrupt their social-media efforts. This large-scale political spamming could foreshadow online antics that campaigners may increasingly resort to in other countries. Twitter has been especially prominent in Mexican political theater this year as the country prepares for general elections on July 1, when citizens will elect a new president and fill a number of national and state leadership positions. One reason is that even before the election, Mexicans were frequently turning to the service as a source of information about events in northern areas of the country, where fear of violent retribution prevents news outlets from reporting about drug cartels, says Andres Monroy-Hernández, a researcher at Microsoft Research who has been closely studying Mexican Twitter usage.
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/428286/twitter-mischief-plagues-mexicos-election/
Share on Facebook