Bushfires: ‘Twitter bots’ hijack online debate over causes

QUT social media analyst Timothy Graham has found a ‘high number of bot-like and troll-like’ accounts.

Concerns about bushfire misinformation on social media have heightened, with experts pointing to the use of “Twitter bots” and urging Australians to be more discern­ing in sourcing and spreading information.

Amid a plethora of fake and misleading posts and images relating to the bushfires, a Queensland academic has reported finding a high number of bot-like accounts using hashtags including #ArsonEmergency. The hashtag, apparently favoured by those seeking to emphasise arson over climate change as the cause of the bushfires menacing Australia, has been trending on Twitter.

Queensland University of Technology social media analyst Timothy Graham used a bot-­detecting tool to examine 315 ­accounts using the hashtag, ­finding a “high number of bot-like and troll-like” accounts.

Dr Graham also reported a large number of suspicious account­s using other bushfire hashtags, such as #bushfireaustralia and #australiafire.

He said he was “confident” the findings represented a disinformation campaign but “less con­fident” it was on the scale of Russian inference during the 2016 US elections.

“I’m not sure whether it’s orch­estrated or the extent to which this campaign is being co-ordinated,” he was quoted as saying by ZD Net. “But there does appear to be a ­particular focal point for spreading disinformation about arson in ­relation to the bushfires.”

La Trobe University associate professor Andrea Carson, a polit­ical communications expert, said it appeared individuals or groups with a range of political agendas were using the crisis to further their agendas by spreading misinformation on social media.

“I think that’s what we’re seeing here with the bots that are being developed to deliberately promote a particular agenda around what the causes (of the bushfires) are,” Dr Carson said. “In this instance, (it) appears there is deliberate false inform­ation being put into the public sphere.

“Digital platforms mean it is easier than at any time in history to do that because it spreads like wildfire itself … The political motiv­ations for doing this are, I am sure, on both sides of politics.”

Evidence points to both arson and climate change as factors in the bushfire emergency, along with carelessness. Former and current­ fire chiefs, and climate experts, say climate change is playing a key role, by extending the duration and severity of fire seasons.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s Bushfire Weather Knowledge Centre advises: “Climate change is influencing the frequency and sever­ity of dangerous bushfire conditions … There have been significa­nt changes observed in recen­t decades towards more dangerous bushfire weather conditions for regions of Australia.”

Dr Carson said Australians could help limit the spread of misleading­ information by being more careful in material they shared online, and by using traditiona­l news media.