Abstract:This exploratory study investigates the role that bots and trolls played on social media in widening the gaps of political partisanship in sub-Saharan Africa. Taking the case of the 2018 Zambian by-elections, the authors examined the relationship between online social media content that propagates hate and organized trolling efforts in Zambia. The study used machine learning tools to identify the origin of the bots on Facebook and Twitter accounts (trolls) of the two major political parties in Zambia (PF and … Show more
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