Partisan bot-like accounts amplify divisive content on X | Global Witness

A set of 45 bot-like accounts that amplified partisan content before the UK election have been identified.

The majority of the accounts expressed support for Reform UK , while just under a third expressed support of Labour .

Bots that mask that they are automated and amplify certain content for political purposes harm democracies by impairing users’ access to reliable information and disproportionately promoting misleading material.

Bot-like accounts have continued to post divisive political content since the UK election.

Some have pivoted to respond to emerging global events, such as anti-migrant protests in Ireland and assassination attempt against Donald Trump .

US politics has an ongoing interest in US politics, and engages particularly around flashpoints.

There is no evidence that UK political parties are paying for, using or promoting the accounts.

The continued posting of divisive political content after the UK election finished suggests they could have been created by someone interested in sowing wider discord and stoking tensions in the English -speaking world.

Global Witness wrote to X to give them the opportunity to comment on these findings.