Social Bots as Agenda-Builders: Evaluating the Impact of Algorithmic Amplification on Organizational Messaging

2026/01/04 by Phillip Arceneaux, Josh T. L. Anderson, Josephine Lukito +2 · 1 voice
Computer Science · Social Sciences · #Spam and Phishing Detection #Misinformation and Its Impacts #AI in Service Interactions

paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/1062726x.2025.2606676

openalex created_date 2026/01/04 · openalex publication_date 2026/01/04 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/15

Abstract

This study quantifies the agenda-building impact of social bots via algorithmic amplification. Through an automated content analysis, the data suggest that social bots significantly transferred object, attribute, and network salience to campaign communications during Ohio’s 2022 midterm election, and to a lesser degree, to press and public discourse. Social bots were the strongest influencer of attribute saliency, driving primarily negative sentiment. They were also mild influencers of object salience, leading five issue categories. This contributes to public relations by addressing how agenda-building theory evolves under artificial amplification, empirically illustrating how machines interfere with organizational news and strategic issues management efforts.

Citations

• The Rise of Social Bots
• Investigating Causal Relations by Econometric Models and Cross-spectral Methods
• Social Bots in Election Campaigns: Theoretical, Empirical, and Methodological Implications
• Agenda Building as a Comparative Political Process
• Silenced on social media: the gatekeeping functions of shadowbans in the American Twitterverse
• Bots, disinformation, and the first impeachment of U.S. President Donald Trump
• Botometer 101: social bot practicum for computational social scientists
• The Application of Social Network Analysis in Agenda Setting Research: A Methodological Exploration
• The Influence of Political Parties on Policy Coordination

Discussions

• #toread #paper Social bots as agenda-builders: Evaluating the impact of algorithmic amplification on organizational messaging by Phillip Arceneaux et al. https://doi.org/10.1080/1062726x.2025.2606676 [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]