Mother Jones - How to Spot a Russian Bot
If you start seeing name-calling posts directed at Democrats, particularly anyone who is a presidential contender, that are just a few lines accusing them of being a: corporatist, globalist, DLC, Third-Way, Clintonista, etc., then you might be seeing another Russian bot campaign circa 2016. Be aware. Look at who is kicking the threads and anti-Democratic attacks. Do they actually post any original, substantive content? Do they ever say something positive about Democrats? Or, do they just kick attacks on Democrats from the "left"?
https://www.motherjones.com/media/2018/08/how-to-identify-russian-bots-twitter/
In late July, Twitter’s stock took a beating as the company ramped up efforts to improve “conversational health” on the platform, including purging millions of fake accounts. That was followed by news that members of Congress led by Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) are studying potential ways to regulate Big Tech, in part to battle the kind of disinformation on social media that tainted the 2016 elections.
The Russian government and other malicious actors continue to spread false information and divisive political content on Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms—efforts that rely in no small part on the unwitting participation of everyday people, according to Bret Schafer, an analyst at the Alliance for Securing Democracy. “Social-media users need to be aware of their role in information laundering. If a user retweets, emails, or posts information taken from a less-than-credible point of origin, they now have become the new ‘source’ of that information for friends, family, [and] followers,” Schafer told Mother Jones. “This is how false information really spreads.”
So-called bots, and bot networks, are a big part of the problem. These are generally accounts that operate according to programmed instructions, although human users may control them some of the time. Not all bots are malicious, of course; automated accounts can have benign or even whimsical purposes, like learning how to “see” or “talk.”
Various experts have offered guides to spotting Twitter bots, though the specifics can get pretty obscure and technical. We’ve culled the below from some of the best online guides and expert advice—with the caveat that malicious actors continue to grow more sophisticated and none of these indicators is surefire. (When the Atlantic Council’s Ben Nimmo, author of an excellent guide to spotting bots, fingered a pro-Kremlin troll recently, British media erroneously labeled the account “a bot,” prompting a retired British IT worker to come forward as the account’s owner.)
= new reply since forum marked as read
@realtweetingtwitTrump
Except for those who are Third Way corporate globalists.
And I am nyet a bot. 
keep this KICKED THROUGHOUT!
Keep the Russian botulism at bay.
have to Keep on KICKING IT, uponit!
poster on that thread, throwing seriously nasty anti-Clinton shade
and still around (right here in this very thread)
I really appreciate your fairness.
Logical as ever.
… Twitter and Facebook "bots" have added Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to their campaign. They target her intelligence. I don't agree with everything she does, but she's smart and likable. I still see a lot of posts about the Obamas, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi... it helps if you alert these posts... they create and/or share them... some are so obviously disgusting they are taken down quickly.
