Abstract

Bots have been playing a crucial role in online platform ecosystems, as efficient and automatic tools to generate content and diffuse information to the social media human population. In this chapter, we will discuss the role of social bots in content spreading dynamics in social media. In particular, we will first investigate some differences between diffusion dynamics of content generated by bots, as opposed to humans, in the context of political communication, then study the characteristics of bots behind the diffusion dynamics of social media spam campaigns.

Date

March 11, 2026

Authors

Emilio Ferrara

Journal

Complex spreading phenomena in social systems: Influence and contagion in real-world social networks

Pages

229-255

Publisher

Springer International Publishing