A foreign state actor is likely responsible for a swarm of pro-Linda Reynolds and pro-Gina Rinehart bots on the social media site X as they appear intended to sow discord about the health of liberal democracy, an academic expert has said.
Repetitive posts from seemingly inauthentic accounts have appeared on X lamenting “heartless attacks” on Reynolds and noting Rinehart’s patronage of Australian sport.
“It looks like they are politically motivated, but it is more likely to be a foreign state actor [responsible],” said Timothy Graham, an associate professor at the Queensland University of Technology.
Spokespeople for Reynolds and Rinehart told Guardian Australia they were not responsible for the tweets.
Over the weekend, Australian users of X (formerly known as Twitter) reported dozens of accounts tweeting about “heartless attacks” on Reynolds in parliament.
One user said they had “easily located” 31 bots posting in support of the Liberal senator, pointing out the accounts’ similar wording, sentiments, posting times and dates of creation.
“As a woman, I’ve experienced similar intimidation tactics & know how it feels to be deliberately belittled,” read one tweet from an account with zero followers whose location was set to Missouri City, Texas.
The same account, whose first publicly available tweet was published on 13 August, has complained about air pollution in Canada and the threat of rising sea levels as a result of climate change.
Another account, purportedly from Woodbury in New York, said the “heartless attacks” against Reynolds were “a disturbing reflection on the toxic culture that still pervades our politics”.
That account, with two followers and no publicly available tweets before 14 August, also complained about climate change and said that “as a Kiwi it’s disheartening to see so many friends and family leaving NZ in search of better opportunities”.
With the help of Lani's tweet (see 2/) I just easily located 31 Bots supporting Reynolds...
— Emergency&BushfireKits (@EmergencyBK) August 17, 2024
Similar wording, sentiment, accounts created last few weeks, max. 3 followers, all posted within a 2 hour time frame...
Who could be paying for them? #Auspol pic.twitter.com/LFVKGHf9Ii
Graham told Guardian Australia the accounts displayed “drift” in the topics they talk about and “no consistency about their partisanship” on political issues.
“They complain about rubbish not being cleaned up, about the inability of governments to tackle climate change,” he said. “Some are pro-Linda Reynolds but some are targeting Peter Dutton accusing him of being divisive.
“The common theme or thread of their messages is about sowing discord and divisions, and highlighting the perceived failures of liberal democracies.”
“There is no common partisan political element but there is a common anti-democratic element to them.”
If the aim was to sow “discord and confusion”, Graham concluded that the bots were “actually doing a really good job of it”.
Graham said a similar controversy arose in January when the coral researcher Terry Hughes revealed bots were tweeting about the Great Barrier Reef.
X users also reported finding similar apparently inauthentic messages about Rinehart, which noted her prominence at the Olympic Games and patronage of Australian sport.
One tweet describing Rinehart’s patronage as a “game-changer” was posted by an account with one follower, purportedly based in New Haven, Michigan.
That account also tweeted complaints about grocery and gas prices in the US, warning that “Americans are struggling to make ends meet”.
Graham said that Australia was “not the only target” of the bots, which appeared to be trying to “further polarise conversations” in other democracies including Canada and the US.
Reynolds is currently engaged in a high-profile defamation trial against her former staffer Brittany Higgins, in which the Liberal senator has accused Labor of “heartless” attacks in parliament.
A spokesperson for Reynolds said she was “unaware of these bots”.
“The idea that Senator Reynolds would engage with something like this is preposterous,” they said. “She is not behind these bots and doesn’t know who is.”
A spokesperson for Hancock Prospecting said the bots had “nothing to do with” Rinehart, the executive chair of the company.
