Authors
Matteo Serafino, Zhenkun Zhou, José S Andrade, Alexandre Bovet, Hernán A Makse
Publication date
2024/12/1
Journal
EPJ Data Science
Volume
13
Issue
1
Pages
29
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Description
The ongoing debate surrounding the impact of the Internet Research Agency’s (IRA) social media campaign during the 2016 U.S. presidential election has largely overshadowed the involvement of other actors. Our analysis brings to light a substantial group of suspended Twitter users, outnumbering the IRA user group by a factor of 60, who align with the ideologies of the IRA campaign. Our study demonstrates that this group of suspended Twitter accounts significantly influenced individuals categorized as undecided or weak supporters, potentially with the aim of swaying their opinions, as indicated by Granger causality.