Bots Election: Unveiling the complex network of social botnets

Bots Election: Unveiling the complex network of social botnets | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Bots Election: Unveiling the complex network of social botnets Parsa Bigdeli, Parham Moradi, Reza Jafari This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4773878/v2 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 2 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Abstract With the exponential growth of bots surpassing the near saturation of genuine users, a large socio-bot network has emerged. Botnets have evolved to exhibit significant social properties through their interactions with humans. This structure has empowered bots with capabilities that cannot be observed locally. Hence, as a novel paradigm, this study advocates examining bots as a complex network akin to human social networks. As an exemplar, in our study on Farsi Twitter users during Iran’s 2021 presidential election, 71.2% of the users were identified as bots. By isolating the botnet, we analyzed the distinctions between bots and genuine users within complex networks, revealing a more robust, efficient, and controllable structure for information dissemination. To explore how following and retweeting actions influence each other, we classified bots based on their actions and examined the roles of each classification, the differences between the functional and structural core, observing while the functional-core bots facilitate the botnets’ percolation, the non-common bots alter the mechanisms of networks. Additionally, we observed how the activity of bots is limited within both the functional core and the entire system. Politically, our findings indicated that despite the candidates’ use of bot accounts, political figures did not play a crucial role in controlling the botnet. We further explored the interactions between opposing political preferences and the role of bots with no preferences in bridging political divides and forming echo chambers. Physical sciences/Physics/Statistical physics thermodynamics and nonlinear dynamics/Complex networks Physical sciences/Mathematics and computing/Computational science Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 2 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4773878","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":342308942,"identity":"e638eb0f-d2c1-4e1b-9d75-9d31e3f3439c","order_by":0,"name":"Parsa Bigdeli","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Shahid Beheshti University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Parsa","middleName":"","lastName":"Bigdeli","suffix":""},{"id":342308943,"identity":"6f87b672-d7dd-4b1b-a0d1-98902435c417","order_by":1,"name":"Parham Moradi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Shahid Beheshti University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Parham","middleName":"","lastName":"Moradi","suffix":""},{"id":342308944,"identity":"cbd388be-c033-4aef-a785-1aa8bdb781ec","order_by":2,"name":"Reza Jafari","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAzUlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFCCAwwfGBgk5MDMB0RqYZwB1GIMZiYQaQ1IC0NiA4hJlBZ5x8MPG37usUifH3b4IdAWOzndBgJaDA8cM2zseSaRu/F2mgFQS7Kx2QFCWhoOmD/gOQDUMjsBpOVA4jbCWo5/bPxzQCLdcHb6B+K0yDOcMWwG2pIgL51DpC0GDGcKm2UOSBhukM4pOJBgQIRf5Gcc39j45kCdvPzs9M0fPlTYyRHUYnADqsLgAMRSwkC+vwHKaCBC9SgYBaNgFIxMAACJMk2MeOowjgAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Shahid Beheshti University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Reza","middleName":"","lastName":"Jafari","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-07-20 15:59:20","currentVersionCode":2,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4773878/v2","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4773878/v2","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":76605376,"identity":"8a9f0d85-2e27-4cdb-87cb-127ec84e27dd","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-02-18 23:26:33","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":7150823,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"BotsElection.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4773878/v2_covered_eae36555-7bf9-41cf-a093-b1613feb68b6.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"Bots Election: Unveiling the complex network of social botnets","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4773878/v2","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4773878/v2","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eWith the exponential growth of bots surpassing the near saturation of genuine users, a large socio-bot network has emerged. 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