Washington: Bot-like accounts on social media platform X that spread misinformation and hate ahead of Britain's election are now amplifying conspiracy theories around US politics, a watchdog investigation revealed Tuesday, as the race to the White House kicks into high gear.
Forty-five accounts analyzed by Global Witness, which collectively generated more than four billion impressions since late May, were active in the run-up to the British polls earlier this month.
Disinformation haven
Some of them subsequently pivoted to other high-profile events ahead of the US presidential election in November, including the recent assassination attempt on Donald Trump and President Joe Biden pulling out from the race, the watchdog said in a report.
The findings demonstrate how apparent bot activity continues to plague X, previously called Twitter, despite pledges by Elon Musk to crack down on the digital manipulation when he purchased the influential social media platform in 2022 for $44 billion.
The bot-like accounts, which collectively produced around 610,000 posts and amplified racist and sexualised abuse, also focused on climate disinformation and other global events, including anti-migrant protests in Ireland.
"In a moment when everyone is worried about democracy, it is shocking how easy it has been to find accounts that appear to be bots spreading division around the UK vote, and then to watch them jump straight into political discussions in the US and Ireland, frequently responding with hate and conspiracy," said Ava Lee, campaign leader at Global Witness.
"Access to timely, accurate and reliable information is crucial for all democracies, and it's needed now more than ever in the run up to the US presidential election."
The platform did not reply to AFP's request for comment.
An automated response from the platform's press team said: "Busy now, please check back later."
'Flood' of manipulation
It was unclear who was behind the bot-like activity uncovered by the watchdog.
Global Witness said it did not find evidence that any British political parties were paying for, using or promoting the bot-like accounts as part of their campaigns.
After the assassination attempt on Trump at a Pennsylvania rally earlier this month, some accounts - which previously supported the right-wing party Reform UK - were found sharing unfounded theories holding Biden responsible, the watchdog said.
Other accounts supporting Britain's Labour party questioned whether the incident was staged by Trump, it added.
Racist comments
After Biden announced he was pulling out from the race, a number of accounts increased their discussions of US Vice President Kamala Harris - the presumptive Democratic nominee - including sharing "gendered disinformation tropes" and racist comments, the report said.
Ahead of his purchase of the platform, Musk pledged to "defeat the spam bots or die trying."
Moderation
But bot activity remains entrenched on the platform, a report from Australia's Queensland University of Technology (QUT) said last year after an analysis of about one million posts.
"X is flooded with platform manipulation of various kinds, is not doing enough to moderate content, and has no clear strategy for dealing with political disinformation," the QUT report said.
Lee, in light of Global Witness's findings, called on X to "increase its moderation efforts and get better at enforcing its own policies against inauthentic activity."
"We're relying on them to protect our democracies from interference," Lee said.
Trust and safety teams gutted
The platform has gutted trust and safety teams and scaled back content moderation efforts once used to tame misinformation, making it what researchers call a haven for disinformation.
Last week, Musk - who recently endorsed Trump - himself faced a firehose of criticism for sharing a deepfake video featuring Harris on X, which tech campaigners said violated the platform's own policies.
Poll show Harris even with Trump in swing states
US Vice President Kamala Harris, has erased former President Donald Trump's lead in seven key battleground states, roughly a week after becoming the likely Democratic nominee, The Hill reported.
A Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll showed Harris and Trump in a tight race across all battleground states, with 48 per cent backing Harris and 47 per cent showing support for Trump.
The breakdown among individual states shows each candidate leading comfortably in one swing state, with the others closely contested.
Shift in battleground states
It is a notable shift the same poll results conducted at the start of July that showed Trump leading Biden overall by 2 percentage points, and Trump leading in five of seven battleground states.
Tuesday's poll showed Harris opening up an 11-point lead on Trump in Michigan, a 2-point lead in Nevada, a 2-point lead in Arizona and a 2-point lead in Wisconsin.
Trump, meanwhile, led Harris by 4 points in Pennsylvania and 2 points in North Carolina. The candidates were tied in Georgia at 47 percent support, as reported by The Hill.
The poll surveyed 4,973 registered voters from July 24-28. It has a margin of error of 1 percentage point.
The Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll is the latest sign that Harris's campaign has given significant momentum to the Democratic Party following President Biden's pulling out of the race.
Harris rapidly consolidated support among Democrats in the hours after Biden stepped aside, and she raised more than $200 million in her first week as a presidential candidate.
Other polls released since Harris became the likely Democratic nominee have similarly shown a close race between her and Trump.
But Harris herself has said her campaign is the underdog in a matchup with the former president, The Hill reported.
"Let us be clear-eyed: We have a fight ahead of us. We got a fight ahead of us. And we are the underdogs in this race," Harris told donors in Massachusetts on Saturday. "But this is a people-powered campaign, and we have momentum."
