Political Manipulation by Twitter Bots & Trolls During Elections

There has been much controversy about the role of social bots and trolls in manipulating and distorting public opinion on social media platforms such as Twitter.

In the midst of #AustraliaVotes, Hacks/Hackers is fortunate to have Dr Tim Graham from QUT's Digital Media Research Centre, an expert in bot-hunting and social network science, to talk all things bots and trolls within the context of modern political campaigns.

In this talk Tim will demonstrate and discuss some of the cutting-edge computational techniques he developed to study the influence and role of bots and trolls during the 2016 US Presidential Election, and some more recent findings from our very own 2019 Australian Federal Election.

Prepare to enter into the world of online information warfare, as Tim shows just how influential bots were during the 1st US Presidential Debate (hint: they outpaced humans), and the complex strategies of Russian trolls during and after the Election.

6:00pm Arrive / Socialise / Grab a drink
6:30pm Dr Tim Graham speaks about Trolls/Bots
7:00pm Drinks / Food / Open Discussion
8:00pm Close