Occupied Palestine (QNN)- An investigation by Israel’s Channel 12 News has found that about half of the politically active accounts on Israeli social media are not real people but automated bots.
The report said many of these bots actively promote posts by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by the ICC over war crimes in Gaza, and members of his coalition.
The investigation, aired Friday night, found that bots rush to like and share posts almost immediately after publication.
This early activity pushes content into social media algorithms and helps it reach wider audiences.
The investigation found another clear sign of manipulation.
While comments on such posts often appeared negative, shared versions skewed heavily positive, which experts said points to bot amplification.
In some cases, the report said, human influencers post first to trigger the algorithm.
Bots then reinforce and spread the content at scale.
The report warned that bots also play a major role in spreading libel.
The report estimated that around half of Israel’s politically active accounts are bots, a level similar to global trends.
Some bots are simple and easy to identify, while others use advanced artificial intelligence and closely mimic real users.
Experts said some bots mainly collect data rather than shape public opinion. Others focus directly on manipulating online discourse.
