Online bots scan social media sites and then send out automatic messages to users. Political parties use them to get their messages out. So they have the power to shape public opinion, and they can even have an impact on elections.
Fenwick McKelvey from Concordia University and Elizabeth Dubois from University of Ottawa recently wrote about bots for Policy Options. They found that the risks of this kind of digital campaign could soon outweigh the benefits.
McKelvey sat down with journalist and McGill University law student Ryan Hicks at our Montreal studio to talk about why political parties should commit to using bots responsibly.
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