Social Media Manipulation: Exposing Trolls, Bots and Fake News

Social media, once hailed as a democratizing force behind “Twitter uprisings” and “Facebook revolutions,” has transformed into a sophisticated weapon for manipulating public opinion and influencing elections worldwide. This shift has made these platforms notorious for their potential to shape political outcomes rather than simply connecting people.

The 2016 U.S. presidential election marked a watershed moment in this evolution. Donald Trump himself acknowledged the power of his social media presence, with his digital media director Brad Parscale calling Facebook “the 500-pound gorilla” that commanded 80 percent of their campaign budget. Though Trump later claimed “Facebook was always anti-Trump,” the platform proved instrumental to his victory.

Now, focus has shifted to examining how Russia and other actors may have exploited social media to influence elections. But the U.S. case, while prominent, represents just one example of a global phenomenon where governments, political parties, and other entities deploy what researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) call “cyber-troops” to secure power and undermine opponents.

These operations employ a mix of public funding, private contracts, and volunteers. They often utilize bots—fake accounts posing as real people—that can produce up to 1,000 social media posts daily. By creating an illusion of widespread support for certain ideas or candidates, these bots trigger a bandwagon effect, normalizing positions that might otherwise seem fringe.

“If you use enough of them, of bots and people, and cleverly link them together, you are what’s legitimate. You are creating truth,” explains Philip Howard, director of the OII.

In the U.S., the 2016 election represented a perfect storm of social media manipulation techniques. Pro-Trump bots generated five times more activity at key campaign moments than pro-Clinton ones. While Clinton outspent Trump on television advertising and nationally focused digital ads, Trump’s team, including Cambridge Analytica, excelled at microtargeting specific demographics.

One notable example involved showing African-American voters in key districts an anti-Clinton ad featuring her controversial 1996 “super-predators” speech—a targeted suppression tactic that proved effective. Cambridge Analytica, whose connections to Trump donor Robert Mercer and former White House strategist Stephen Bannon raised questions about its political neutrality, pioneered these approaches.

Around the world, different regimes have developed distinctive social media manipulation strategies. In Azerbaijan, President Ilham Aliyev has mobilized thousands of trained trolls through youth organizations since at least 2010. Initially focused on promoting positive content, these operations evolved toward aggressive harassment of journalists and drowning out discussions of human rights abuses with nationalist rhetoric and “whataboutism.”

China operates perhaps the world’s largest state-run social media manipulation program, with an estimated two million individuals posting roughly 448 million comments annually. Rather than directly confronting critics, Beijing’s “50-cent party” (named for the alleged payment per post) primarily works to distract citizens during politically sensitive moments, redirecting attention through emotional diversions and “cheerleading” content that drowns out organic discussions.

Israel maintains one of the most professional online operations globally, with over 350 official government social media accounts operating in Hebrew, Arabic, and English. The Israeli strategy emphasizes positive engagement rather than trolling, with student volunteers often receiving scholarships for their contributions. Their approach focuses on improving Israel’s image both domestically and internationally, particularly to counter the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Russia’s sophisticated operation includes both state-backed organizations like Nashi and private companies such as the Internet Research Agency. Russian trolls maintain multiple accounts with strict posting quotas—Facebook users must manage six accounts with three daily posts each, while Twitter operators handle ten accounts with 50 daily tweets. These “troll factories” employ English teachers to improve their grammar for international audiences and provide “politology” workshops to ensure consistent messaging.

In the United Kingdom, the 2016 Brexit referendum saw approximately one-third of Twitter traffic generated by automated bots, predominantly supporting the Leave campaign. The British government has also established its own units, including the Army’s 77th Brigade, which conducts “non-lethal psychological operations” on social networks to counter terrorist propaganda.

As these techniques proliferate globally, what began as platforms for connection have evolved into sophisticated tools for influence and control—making social media increasingly antisocial in nature.