Beijing-based bot network uncovered on X with fears of US election interference
China is being accused of using artificial intelligence technology to create a network of fake online accounts for conducting political interference. A network of at least 5,000 "inauthentic" accounts has been identified on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, which regularly engage in discourse about US politics and even targets Australian content.
Transcript
00:00What's been uncovered in this Australian research by local company CyberCX is thousands, potentially,
00:09of inauthentic accounts that have been generated.
00:13It's understood by a Beijing-based artificial intelligence business.
00:18And these fake accounts are increasingly engaging with divisive political discourse online.
00:26CyberCX says it's been getting more sophisticated over recent weeks, and it believes that it
00:32could be used to target the upcoming US presidential elections due to be held in November.
00:39Some of these accounts have also been engaging with Australian content, with messages to
00:46do with divisive issues here in Australia as well.
00:50But the Australian government privately is growing increasingly concerned about the use
00:56of artificial intelligence in foreign plots to cause political interference to this country.
01:04And this research is being considered a timely reminder of that.
01:09At the same time, we're learning a little bit more about what's occurring in the United
01:13Kingdom, where, again, Facebook-run accounts are helping to sow division in the United
01:21Kingdom over ethnic tensions there.
01:24A recent ABC News Verify investigation linked one of these particularly popular Facebook
01:32sites to a group of internet trolls operating out of Africa.
01:37That was done using a tool that is offered by Facebook's owner, Meta, known as CrowdTangle.
01:44But in the next few days, it's going to be closed down, and Australia's e-safety commissioner,
01:49Julie Inman Grant, is not impressed.
01:52Unfortunately, the replacement tools that Meta is ostensibly putting forward are inferior
01:59to CrowdTangle in terms of really being able to monitor real-time civic discourse.
02:06And the other concern is they're not making this available to journalists.
02:11And we rely on journalists in times of conflict, in times of civil unrest, in times of elections,
02:20to be able to report what's happening in real time, so that we as regulators and citizens
02:25can respond.
02:26Julie Inman Grant speaking there.
02:28And Meta, which operates Facebook and the CrowdTangle tool, has declined to respond
02:34to questions about the decision to shut down the transparency tool.