A new report examining online conversations surrounding Georgia’s race for governor found potentially inauthentic accounts targeting both candidates, with hundreds showing signs of coordinated activity.
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Cyabra analyzes online activity for signs of manipulation. They examined multiple races across the country this election cycle, including Georgia’s Governor’s race.
The company says that during periods including debate week, as many as 1 in 4 replies on X came from accounts it classified as inauthentic.
Cyabra says hundreds of accounts also showed signs of coordination, including accounts posting within seconds of one another and responding to the same conversations.
“They find inflammatory real conversations and start to amplify those, respond to those,” David Low, Cyabra’s Chief Marketing Officer, told Channel 2 Action News.
The posts Cyabra identified included attacks on both candidates.
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Cyabra’s analysis did not figure out who operated the accounts, whether they were based in the United States or overseas, or why the accounts targeted both candidates.
Rajiv Garg, a professor at Emory University who studies the issue, said artificial intelligence has made it easier and cheaper to operate accounts.“You can have them send a message, I mean, for pennies,” Garg said.
Garg said operations involving inauthentic accounts do not necessarily have to support one candidate over another. In some cases, he said, creating division and uncertainty can be enough.
“You’re hiding behind so many façades that nobody knows what you are, or are you even a person?” Georgia resident Tyler Rogers said.
“It could be a bot. It could be somebody just trying to rage bait or whatever the case may be,” Nika Singleton, another voter, said.With Georgia voters heading to the polls Tuesday, Garg urged voters not to make last-minute political decisions based solely on what they encounter on social media.
“Don’t trust anything on social media,” Garg said. “My suggestion is to treat social media as an entertainment medium.”
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