Modern political campaigns are increasingly leveraging advanced digital tools, particularly social bots, ingenious automated programmes powered by artificial intelligence (AI) that imitate human behaviour on social media. Their ability to engage with users in real time, spread political messages, and influence public discussions makes them a powerful force in shaping opinions. These bots do more than just push particular political agendas; they can also distort how users perceive issues, create a false sense of widespread support, and deepen divisions among voters. Furthermore, social bots foster selective exposure by encouraging users to interact solely with information that supports their current beliefs, potentially leading to the formation of ideological echo chambers. This paper examines how state-of-the-art language processing and data-driven learning methods allow these bots to be more convincing and less detectable, presenting a significant challenge to democratic systems. It also looks into the role of bots in spreading disinformation and shaping media narratives and highlights specific cases of political manipulation involving bots in both authoritarian and democratic contexts. The conclusion stresses that, given the growing sophistication of these technologies, a comprehensive response is crucial, one that encompasses legislative measures, technological innovations, and user education to protect the integrity of public discourse.
Baltezarević et al. (2025) studied this question.