Episode 915 • • 1:52:54 - 1:56:41
915: One Belt One Road
60 Minutes Investigation into Social Media Bots
A 60 Minutes investigation demonstrates how "bots" are used to manipulate social media trends and make fake news appear popular. Reporter Bill Whitaker purchases 5,000 Russian bots to inflate his own tweet's engagement from 300 to 44,000 retweets. The hosts note that mainstream news organizations likely use similar tactics to boost their own numbers and earnings reports.