In their most simple iteration as online programs that run automated tasks
(while not directly interacting with other web users) bots have long been
infrastructural tools used for activities relating to early iterations of online
indexing and internet search (Middlebrook and Muller 2000; Seymour,
Frantsvog, and Kumar 2011). Both simple strings of code intended to back up
or update personal computers and socially oriented, automated, imposter
accounts on Twitter can be referred to as bots. These automated programs
have a seriously large presence online. In fact, in 2015 the cybersecurity ﬁrm
Incapsula (now known as Imperva Incapsula) found that bot usage made up
around 50 percent of all online trafﬁc (Incapsula 2015). In 2014, as many as
20 million accounts on Twitter were identiﬁed as bots (Motti 2014). The
number of bots functioning on Facebook and other prominent platforms is
less clear, in part due to ﬁrms’ close hold on user data and metrics. In 2018,
Social_Media_and_Democracy