Russian Twitter bots encouraged US parents not to vaccinate their children

A new study published Thursday shows Russian bots promoted divisive speech and misinformation surrounding vaccinations in the U.S.

The study, which was published in the American Journal of Public Health, found social media posts taking hardline views on both sides of the vaccination debate in roughly equal proportion.

"These trolls seem to be using vaccination as a wedge issue, promoting discord in American society," the study's authors told NBC News.

The researchers reportedly analyzed a list of Russian bot accounts compiled by NBC News and found that the accounts were “significantly more likely to tweet about vaccination than are average Twitter users.”

Several of the tweets studied originated from accounts identified as being connected to a Kremlin “troll farm," the Internet Research Agency, NBC reported.

http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/403375-russian-twitter-bots-sought-to-sow-discord-around-vaccinations-report