Social Media Bots: Implications for Special Operations Forces

Abstract

CNA initiated this study of social media bots-automated programs on social media platforms to explore their implications for US special operations forces (SOF) and the broader national security community. This report explains social media bots and botnets, explores the threat of automation and the role of social media bots as a tool of disinformation, and introduces a taxonomy of six activities that social media bots and botnets can engage in: distributing, amplifying, distorting, hijacking, flooding, and fracturing. It then identifies likely evolutions in the near- to mid-term futures and explores the implications of those futures for SOF. The report examines opportunities and risks for SOF and concludes with examples of potential SOF use in each of the six identified social media bot and botnet activities.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2020
Accession Number
AD1112595

Entities

People

  • Kasey Stricklin
  • Megan K. Mcbride
  • Zack Gold

Organizations

  • Center for Naval Analyses

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Cyber
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Climate Change
  • Commerce
  • Congress
  • Cybersecurity
  • Cyberspace Operations
  • Disinformation Operations
  • Information Operations
  • Information Systems
  • Information Warfare
  • Internet
  • Law
  • Military Science
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Online Communications
  • Public Health
  • Social Media
  • Social Networking Services
  • Terrorism
  • Unified Combatant Commands
  • United States
  • United States Special Operations Command
  • Warfare

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Cybersecurity.
  • Irregular Warfare and Special Operations Cyberspace Operations against Adversarial Threats.
  • Systems Analysis and Design