Fake profiles that claimed to be women got more engagement, more eyeballs and more influence than supposedly male accounts
When disinformation researcher Wen-Ping Liu looked into China’s efforts to influence Taiwan’s recent election using fake social media accounts, something unusual stood out about the most successful profiles.
Whether it’s Chinese or Russian propaganda agencies, online scammers or AI chatbots, it pays to be female – proving that while technology may grow more and more sophisticated, the human brain remains surprisingly easy to hack thanks in part to age-old gender stereotypes that have migrated from the real world to the virtual.
People tend to see women as warmer, less threatening and more agreeable than men, Borau told The Associated Press. Men, meanwhile, are often perceived to be more competent, though also more likely to be threatening or hostile. Because of this many people may be, consciously or unconsciously, more willing to engage with a fake account that poses as female.
Users also treat bots differently based on their perceived sex: Borau’s research has found that “female” chatbots are far more likely to receive sexual harassment and threats than “male” bots. The online influence campaigns mounted by nations like China and Russia have long used faux females to spread propaganda and disinformation. These campaigns often exploit people’s views of women. Some appear as wise, nurturing grandmothers dispensing homespun wisdom, while others mimic young, conventionally attractive women eager to talk politics with older men.
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