Researchers have uncovered new evidence of networks of thousands of suspect Twitter bots working to influence the Brexit debate in the run-up to the EU referendum.

The findings, from researchers at City, University of London, include a network of more than 13,000 suspected bots that tweeted predominantly pro-Brexit messages before being deleted or removed from Twitter in the weeks following the vote.



The research – which is published in the peer-reviewed Social Science Computer Review journal and was shared exclusively with BuzzFeed News – suggests the suspected bot accounts were eight times more likely to tweet pro-leave than pro-remain content.

"This is research that corroborates what Facebook and others say: that there are bots that serve to falsely amplify certain messages," co-author Dan Mercea told BuzzFeed News.

"There is a potential distortion of public communications and we want to get to the bottom of that. This amplification is of concern as it gives us a false sense of momentum behind certain ideas… If there is false amplification, how do we know if someone is genuine?"

The new evidence of botnet activity in the EU referendum raises serious questions for Twitter, including whether the tech giant has any evidence as to who was behind the bots, and whether or not the site was aware of significant Brexit bot activity at the time.

Damian Collins, the Conservative chair of the House of Commons culture, media, and sport committee, told BuzzFeed News he had written to Twitter to ask for more information as to whether there had been "interference" in the UK's democratic process.

"This is clearly a very serious matter, and one that must be urgently clarified," he said. "I have written to Twitter asking them to look into the bot accounts highlighted by the researchers at City University. I have specifically asked the company about the reach of the tweets, the ownership of the accounts, and who deleted the tweets.

"Any interference in the democratic process of the United Kingdom by people acting illegitimately is a serious matter, and I hope that Twitter will be able to shed some light on what is a troubling piece of research.”



Asked by BuzzFeed News whether Twitter had been aware of botnet activity around the time of Brexit, and whether it had informed the authorities if so, a spokesman for the social network said he had "nothing further to share".