AI-powered bots spread misinformation and manipulate streaming audiences
AI-powered bots are being deployed to spread misinformation on social networks and artificially inflate streaming audience metrics in Latin America, distorting brand investment decisions and undermining ecosystem credibility. Argentine streaming channels including Luzu TV, Olga, Blender and Vorterix have been targeted in a competitive 'bot war' that manipulates engagement metrics.
What happened
Artificial intelligence-powered bots are being used to spread misinformation on social networks and inflate streaming audience metrics in Latin America. Spanish cybersecurity journal Ciberseguridad has alerted to 'grey bots' that use AI to disseminate deceptive messages without raising suspicion, blurring the line between authentic and manipulated content.
In Argentina, a competitive 'bot war' has emerged among streaming channels. Nicolás Occhiato of Luzu TV publicly denounced that his channel was attacked by bots, showing unexplainable spikes in metrics. Channels including Olga, Blender, Vorterix, Bondi and La Casa Streaming also came under suspicion of similar practices.
Reported impact
The bot-generated artificial engagement distorts the metrics that brands use to decide where to invest their money, confuses audiences and undermines the credibility of the streaming ecosystem. In the Dominican Republic and elsewhere on social networks, bots programmed to behave like real users publish constantly, imitate emotions and comment in fluent language with the objective to misinform, influence and confuse.
Index analysis
The new generation of bots has learned to mimic human behavior by publishing at all hours, using common phrases and simulating emotions. The realism of AI-powered grey bots has made it difficult for users to distinguish between authentic opinions and machine-generated content on social networks.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
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