A new survey by the Department of Public Policy Analysis of Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV DAPP) with 5,415,492 tweets collected between June 22 and July 23 about the political debate confirms bot activity in the presidential pre-campaign.

According to FGV DAPP’s methodology, the interactions prompted by automated profiles in this period corresponded to: 22.17% of tweets made by profiles associated with the left-wing field, which traditionally constitute the base of former president Lula; 21.96% of tweets associated with the conservative field, which align with deputy Jair Bolsonaro; 16.18% of tweets associated with the center field (not aligned with any of the traditional “poles”); and 3.99% of tweets associated with the center-left group (with no predominant political actor in particular).

Map of interactions in the debate about the presidential hopefuls
5,415,496 tweets | June 22 to July 23

Majority field – pink; conservative field – dark blue; left-wing field – red; center field – light blue;

Interactions influenced by bots in each field

Interactions influenced by bots in the network

The data were presented this Wednesday (June 25) at the launch event of the public debate Digital Democracy Room – #observa2018, which will daily monitor the public debate on the network and the attempts to interfere with the democratic process.